In January 2023, Cristiano Ronaldo signed his contract with Al-Nassr. At first glance, it looked like a one-off, headline-grabbing deal — a 37-year-old star moving to a league that wasn’t on football’s global map. But what came next revealed that this signing wasn’t the end of anything. It was the spark of a full-scale redesign of Saudi football.
Three years later, the landscape inside the Kingdom is unrecognisable. Not in star power, not in club ownership, not even in Saudi Arabia’s position on the world football map. This article is a strategic look at what’s actually changed — and what remains a real challenge.
The ignition moment — June 2023
In June 2023, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced its acquisition of 75% of the shares of four clubs: Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad, and Al-Ahli. This change rewrote the management logic of Saudi football. Clubs were no longer entities depending on government budgets or donations — they became commercial organisations backed by one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds.
The immediate result: buying power the league had never seen before. For the first time, Saudi clubs could compete directly with European giants in the transfer market — not for marginal players, but for stars in their prime.
Summer 2023 — the big wave
What happened in the summer of 2023 had no real precedent in football outside of Europe. Within weeks, the Saudi league absorbed:
- Neymar (PSG to Al-Hilal).
- Karim Benzema (Real Madrid to Al-Ittihad, fresh off his 2022 Ballon d’Or).
- Sadio Mané (Bayern Munich to Al-Nassr).
- Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City to Al-Ahli).
- N’Golo Kanté and Fabinho (to Al-Ittihad).
- Roberto Firmino and Édouard Mendy (to Al-Ahli).
- Rúben Neves, Kalidou Koulibaly, and Sergej Milinković-Savić (to Al-Hilal).
- Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City to Al-Nassr).
In a single window, the Saudi league transformed from a domestic competition into a global destination tracked by the media in London, Milan, and Barcelona. The reported fees and wages were among the highest in world football.
The season that proved the seriousness — Al-Hilal 2023/24
This is where the question shifted from “will this last?” to “how far can this actually go?” In the 2023/24 season, Al-Hilal recorded a world record: 34 consecutive wins across all competitions — entered into Guinness World Records as the longest winning run in top-tier professional football history.
This wasn’t just an individual achievement. It was a message: the investment was translating into results, and Saudi clubs were now capable of building complete teams, not merely collecting names.
The smart pivot — from stars to projects
After the big wave came a quieter, smarter phase. Transfers in 2024 and 2025 became much more selective — focused on players in their early or mid-twenties, players who could deliver long-term value rather than just attention.
This pivot wasn’t accidental — it was a realistic reading. Plenty of clubs around the world have bought stars at the end of their careers and watched the project retire with them. Saudi Arabia chose a different path: building a base of players who could be the league’s stars for the next decade, not just the next two seasons.
2034 World Cup — the strategic anchor
On December 11, 2024, FIFA officially awarded the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia. The decision wasn’t a surprise — the Kingdom was the only candidate after Australia withdrew — but it was the moment when the Saudi football project shifted from “ambitious investment” to “national project with a hard deadline.”
Everything happening now — infrastructure, coach development, academies, investment in the senior and youth national teams — has to be in place before summer 2034. This is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s an international commitment.
Beyond the spotlight — the investments that don’t make headlines
What the casual viewer sees is Ronaldo, Neymar, and Benzema. What they don’t see is what matters more in the long term:
- Expanded academies at the four big clubs and several first-division sides.
- Bringing in top European coaches to work with youth categories, not just first teams.
- Stadium infrastructure upgrades in line with FIFA’s 2034 requirements.
- Investment in the women’s game — the launch of a formal women’s league.
- Partnerships with European leagues for exchanges and competitive exposure.
These are the tracks that will determine whether Saudi football remains a phenomenon — or becomes a sustainable industry.
The real challenges
The picture isn’t complete without acknowledging the headwinds. The biggest ones:
1. Attendance — despite the success of marquee fixtures, many league matches still show half-empty stands. A star alone doesn’t create fan culture.
2. Continental competitiveness — the real test is the AFC Champions League. Saudi clubs have produced good runs but have not yet dominated the way the spending might suggest.
3. Internal diversity — the gap between the four big clubs and the rest of the league is wide. A strong league needs deeper competitiveness, not just at the top.
4. International criticism — accusations of “sportswashing” continue to appear in Western media. This is a multi-layered issue, but ignoring it doesn’t make it go away.
5. Sustainability of spending — can this level of investment hold for an entire decade? Or will there come a moment of budget recalibration?
Closing — a new phase, new questions
Three years ago, the question about Saudi football was: “Will it succeed in drawing attention?” The answer now is clear: yes.
Today, the questions are deeper: Will it succeed in building a sustainable football industry? Will it develop Saudi players capable of competing in major tournaments? Will the 2034 World Cup be the coronation of a long-term project, or a test that exposes what lies beneath the surface?
The answers won’t be complete for years. But what’s certain is that Saudi football is no longer what it was in 2022 — and the global football map can no longer be read without a chapter called “Riyadh.”