Foreign investment in European football clubs has long been present. At its highest level, European football is undoubtedly the most popular sport globally, and a highly profitable industry. This makes it a magnet for investors from various corners of the globe, whether they come from the United States, the Gulf, or East Asia.
In the past decade, however, Gulf Arab investment in European football has surged to unprecedented levels, helping to create some of the most powerful teams on the continent. This includes Manchester City, among whose remarkable achievements are winning five out of the last six English Premier League titles and clinching the Champions League crown last year; or Paris Saint-Germain, which has dominated the French league, winning the championship nine times in the last eleven seasons. Manchester City came under the ownership of Emirati stakeholders in September 2008, while Paris Saint-Germain was acquired by Qatar in 2011.
More recently, in October 2021, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund bought an 80 percent stake in Newcastle United. Following this move, the English club, remarkably, qualified for the Champions League in 2023 after a two-decade hiatus. The influx of Gulf Arab capital in European football is steadily becoming a trend, although it continues to provoke protests from some quarters (most recently the Spanish first division, or La Liga), who decry the perceived unfairness of the immense investments flowing from the petrostates.
What European football did not foresee, however, was that the Gulf Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia, would harbor ambitions to bring international footballers to their countries.
Following the resounding success of the 2022 World Cup, hosted, against all odds, by the geographically and demographically small nation of Qatar, Saudi Arabia has pivoted its focus toward attracting to its domestic football league international football stars, most of whom play in Europe. In the summer transfer window of 2023 alone, Saudi Arabian football clubs invested an amazing $957 million, second only to English Premier League clubs, which spent a staggering $1.39 billion. The main purposes behind Saudi Arabia’s unprecedented investment drive were to enhance the kingdom’s international standing and ignite national enthusiasm for the country’s most beloved sport—though its investments extend beyond football. For instance, Saudi Arabia recently launched a professional golf tour, initially intended to rival the U.S. PGA Tour, before the two were later merged.
For years, it has been customary for star footballers to conclude their careers in leagues that offer a lower standard of competition than the top European tiers, but also higher salaries. They do so in pursuit of substantial compensation—a final “payday” as it were, in the twilight of their careers (in order to promote the sport in these countries). However, in Saudi Arabia’s case, what is notable is that it is not merely the aging stars who have been drawn to the kingdom’s league. Cristiano Ronaldo, now near the end of his career, blazed the trail and became the world’s highest-paid athlete. However, many players who could still excel at the highest European levels have also opted for the lucrative contracts available in Saudi Arabia.
Consider, for example, Liverpool’s 2019 Champions League-winning starting lineup—the best team in the world that year as it also subsequently won the Club World Cup. Five of the eleven players from that team made the transition to the Saudi Pro League this summer. With footballers maintaining their fitness levels well into their thirties (Luka Modric, at 38, who is still plying his trade at Real Madrid, won the Ballon d’Or at 33 in 2018), players like Roberto Firmino (31), Sadio Mané (31), Georginio Wijnaldum (32), Fabinho Tavares (29), and former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson (33), could have continued performing at the pinnacle of European football for several more seasons.
However, not all footballers view the Saudi Pro League with equal seriousness. For example, Toni Kroos, a four-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid and World Cup winner with Germany, recently criticized the transfer of the young Spanish player Gabri Veiga, to the Saudi Arabian club Al-Ahli, describing it as “embarrassing.” Kroos, along with many other players still actively engaged in top European football, believe the Saudi Pro League is primarily perceived as a retirement destination for players who previously competed at the highest levels. Consequently, they argue that the sport’s integrity is jeopardized when young players, solely motivated by financial gain, decide to play in the kingdom.
For the Saudi Pro League to evolve into a formidable competition, one that transcends the status of being another Chinese Super League, it needs to attract more young, star players—Veiga, at this point is an exception— and have a long-term vision for a competitive league. It needs to be able to attract players like Mohammed Salah, arguably the most successful Arab player of all time, who is still in the prime of his career. Indeed, Salah was the subject of interest from Saudi football club Al-Ittihad, who reportedly saw an offer of $187.10 million turned down by Liverpool this summer. Despite the extravagant sum, Salah’s agent took to social media to clarify that for now the player was committed to Liverpool.
At this moment in time, while the project is still admittedly in its early stages, Saudi clubs are still unable to compete at the top levels of the sport where the best players still want to compete. This presently means the UEFA Champions League, the competition that brings together Europe’s champions and runners up. The Saudi Pro League does not have anything close to the global viewership of the UEFA Champions League either. There have been whispers about the Saudi desire to join the prestigious tournament. While this is not entirely implausible, given that Israel, for political reasons, is a part of UEFA and has participated in European competitions since 1991, it remains a distant aspiration at this juncture.
Alternatively, another avenue for growth could be to play in the FIFA Club World Cup, which Saudi Arabia will conveniently host in December. The aim would be to gain more prominence as the tournament integrates additional European teams (starting in 2025) and may come to rival the UEFA Champions League. In such a scenario, Saudi Arabia may indeed stand a chance of nurturing a league capable of challenging the supremacy of the top leagues such as those in England, Spain, Italy, and Germany. Yet, a question looms large: Will Europe welcome such a challenge?
