New era of Saudi football kicks off

The 2023-24 Roshn Saudi League season kicks off on Friday and to say it is eagerly awaited is an understatement.

Fans in Saudi Arabia have never had such talent in their own backyard, and there has never been such international attention. 

Al-Ittihad are the defending champions and the ones to beat in a league expanded from 16 to 18 teams. The Tigers are the only one of the “Big Four,” taken over by the Public Investment Fund in June, to have the same coach in place. Nuno Santo impressed in his first season and now has added Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Fabinho and Jota to an already-strong squad.

There are a few clouds on the Jeddah horizon. As Al-Hilal found last season, going deep into the Asian Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup and King’s Cup can impact league form. Having so many games should at least help keep all the players happy with rumors already that Abderrazak Hamdallah, the Saudi Pro League’s top scorer last season, is unhappy at playing second fiddle to Benzema. There is also the major injury to defensive lynchpin Ahmed Hegazi but overall, Ittihad look formidable.

Al-Nassr finished second after half a season of Cristiano Ronaldo. Now they have a full campaign with the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

Marcelo Brozovic and Sadio Mane have come in from Inter Milan and Bayern Munich respectively and are genuine top-class players. Then there is Seko Fofana and Alex Telles adding to the talent from last season such as Anderson Talisca, Abdulrahman Ghareeb and Sultan Al-Ghannam. Al-Nassr are stacked, especially in midfield and attack.

After a poor start to pre-season, the team looks to be coming together under coach Luis Castro. It remains to be seen if the boss — one of six Portuguese managers in the