Saudi, now with celebrities and open TV, puts himself to the test – 08/10/2023 – O Mundo É a Bola

First, with the 2022/2023 season underway, it was Cristiano Ronaldo. Then, unexpectedly, there were others – and there were many.

Not in the mood to continue at Manchester United, where he fell out with the coach, the Portuguese star surprised with the announcement, at the end of last year, of his transfer to Saudi Arabia.

The number 7, then 37 years old (he turned 38), started playing for Al Nassr, receiving a salary of more than R$ 1 billion per year and with a contract until the middle of 2025.

It seemed like the end of his career, even if he was very well-heeled, melancholic for the five-time best player in the world.

In addition to having moved away from the main showcase of football, Europe (with the much-hyped English Championship and Champions League), it has retreated into a peripheral championship, admittedly of a very poor technical level.

He continued to be top scorer, registering 16 goals in 20 matches. But who followed CR7’s presentations?

Here in Brazil, almost nobody. The Saudi was not shown on TV (open or closed) or on streaming platforms. I could only see who was accessing the internet sites that pirate the transmissions.

At the end of the season, what we saw, however, was a wave of famous names migrating to Saudi Arabia. Cristiano Ronaldo influenced, no doubt. He was a tremendous poster child day after day, praising the league.

He said in March: “I think everyone should look at the league [saudita] in a different way. I will not say that the league is a Premier League [o Campeonato Inglês], that would be a lie. But it is a very competitive championship, very balanced and with good teams. I’m sure that in the coming years the league will be the fourth, fifth or sixth most competitive in the world.”

It seemed, at that moment, an empty, unfounded, unrelated prophecy. However, the weeks passed and several high-class players began to leave their teams in Europe and close contracts –of very high figures, it should be noted– with Saudi teams.

People like the French Benzema, 35 (Al Ittihad), former Real Madrid top scorer and most recent winner of the Ballon d’Or (best in the world), Senegalese striker Mané, 31 (Al Nassr), former Bayern Munich, the Algerian forward Mahrez, 32 (Al Ahli), European champion this year with Manchester City, and the English midfielder Henderson, 33 (Al Ettifaq), who captained Liverpool.

There are other athletes of great footballing standards who migrated to the country from the Middle East, such as Croatian midfielder Brozovic, 30 (formerly at Inter Milan, at Al Nassr), Ivorian midfielder Kessié, 26 (formerly at Barcelona, ​​at Al Ahli) , and the French defensive midfielder Kanté, 32 (ex-Chelsea, at Al Ittihad), among others.

And there’s the newly hired group of Brazilians: striker Roberto Firmino, 31 (Al Ahli), defensive midfielder Fabinho, 29 (Al Ittihad), both from Liverpool, left-back Alex Telles, 30 (ex-Sevilla, at Al Nassr), and forward Malcom, 26 (ex-Zenit-RUS, at Al Hilal).

Good workmanship is a necessary ingredient to raise the technical level of any game and any competition. In this sense, it is to be expected that Saudi Arabia will offer more interesting matches, with plastic bids and even clashes between the five or six strongest teams.

It can be seen that a large part of those hired are over 30 years old, so the physical side may weigh on some of them, remembering that Saudi Arabia is a country with high temperatures and considering the history of injuries – Benzema, for example, has often been in the ward.

The menu of attractions also served to partially solve (since there will be few duels shown, in comparison with European championships), the question of “watching” the Saudi games, since communication companies were interested in showing it.

This week, it was learned that in Brazil, football fans will be able to watch some of the competition’s matches on Band channels, both open and subscription channels. GOAT (YouTube and other platforms) will also broadcast.

With these alternatives, those interested will be able to follow Cristiano Ronaldo and company from this Friday (11) and later make comparisons in relation to the main championships in the world, such as English, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian.

Will Saudi Arabia become strong, respected and desired by more football bigwigs, be they players or coaches? It was even thought that Japan or China, which also invested heavily in football, each in their own time, would have powerful leagues, but neither one nor the other took off.

While that answer cannot be given, the challenge will be to fix the names of the clubs, to know who is who among so many “Al”. Of the 18 teams in the league, 16 have “Al” (the definite article, “o” or “a”) at the beginning of their name.

Here they are: Al Itthad (current two-time champion), Al Hilal (greatest champion, with 18 titles), Al Nassr, Al Ahli, Al Shabab, Al Taawon, Al Fateh, Al Ettifaq, Al Taee, Al Raed, Al Feiha, Al Wehda, Al Khaleej, Al Hazm, Al Akhdoud and Al Riyadh. The exceptions are Damak and Abha.