Seismic changes in Saudi football will be felt across Asian game

Asian football has never seen anything like this.

Over the past decade or two, we have seen a number of the world’s best players make the move to Asia: Rivaldo signed for Bunyodkor in Uzbekistan, Alessandro del Piero for Sydney FC, Xavi for Al Sadd and Andres Iniesta for Vissel Kobe, to name just a few.

There was also the explosion in China in the mid-to-late 2010s that saw the likes of Oscar, Hulk and Carlos Tevez make the move east.

But the scale of what we are witnessing in Saudi Arabia is unlike anything we have seen before.

Quite aside from the impact within Saudi Arabia, the landmark signing of Karim Benzema along with other names such as N’Golo Kante and Sergio Busquets — and let’s not forget a certain Cristiano Ronaldo in all of this — has the potential to completely reshape the face of Asian football.

There are significant differences between what happened in the Chinese Super League and what is taking place in Saudi Pro League now. While the project in China had state backing, it was largely financed by private real estate developers and fell apart as soon as the ruling Chinese Communist Party party tried to cool the spending largesse. The project in Saudi Arabia, however, is directly linked to the country’s Vision 2030 agenda.

Just this week, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman outlined a new vision for sport in the country, and in particular football, with leading clubs to be privatized. The big four are all being taken over by the Public Investment Fund, and the annual revenue of the SPL will be increasing from $120 million to a staggering $480 million.

The sheer scale and ambition are unlike anything ever seen in Asian football, with the ultimate aim of having the SPL as one of the 10 best leagues