Opinion: Saudi Arabia’s Influence on Football Raises Concerns about Fair Play
The speculation of Mo Salah leaving Liverpool FC for Saudi has everyone on a knife-edge. The transfer of superstar Neymar Jr. to Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal has set a precedent and as such ignited heated discussions in the football world.
So what does this mean for UEFA and how will the premier react to not being the biggest dog in the yard? To answer this question and others we must first go through the reasons why footballers are leaving in the first place.
Why is everyone going to the Saudi League?
The Muslim players have a natural affinity to Saudi, beyond footballing reasons, but on the whole, footballers are attracted to the Saudi league, for the same reason they are attracted to the Premier League; other players, fame, and fortune.
Secondly, footballers have learned that there is no loyalty from the clubs to them, the clubs will offload them and move them on in minutes, if it suits them. The example of Man United goalkeeper David DeGea. A player who has shown loyalty over the last decade by refusing moves to Spain on multiple occasions. And how did United repay that? they withdrew a contract offer after he signed and accepted the new terms.
That meant the moment Cristiano and the CR7 signed for the Saudi pro league the rest would follow.
Who is speaking out against the Saudi pro league?
Football pundits are the mouthpieces of broadcasters and they are the ones who are expressing their concerns over the Middle Eastern country’s ‘malevolent desire’ to “take over the sport,” vociferously demanding, in fact insisting, that FIFA conduct a thorough market investigation and curb the Saudi’s spending potential to ‘ensure fair play’.
The outcry intensified when Bernardo Silva, a prominent footballer, was reportedly offered a lucrative deal to join Al Hilal, leading football pundit Jamie Carragher to criticise Saudi Arabia’s “sports-washing” tactics.
Pep Guardiola put this debacle and outrage into perspective when he said the ‘Saudi pro league are not stealing players, they were invited by the Premier League clubs ‘ (an indirect shot at Todd Boehly).
Why are Premier League pundits outraged at the Saudi Pro League?
Writing on Twitter, Carragher said: “Bernardo Silva is in his peak years & has been one of the best players in Europe for the last five years! I wasn’t worried about the Saudi Pro League taking players in their 30s, a touch worried with players below the elite (Neves) but if this happens it feels like a game changer.
Critics claim that the Saudi Public investment fund has effectively taken over Golf, the Boxing fights & now they want to take over football!! And because of their bottomless pit of money … they could also buy premier league football. We all know how the Superleague fiasco went, but it’s hardly dead in the water.
“Europe has been taking the best players in South America and Africa in their youth/prime, for the past 25 years. England have been taking the best players in Europe in their prime, for a decade. But dare a non-European state replicate this, now it’s a problem for the whole of football?,” one user wrote back to Carragher on Twitter.
Twitter
Another user also voiced the hypocrisy, writing, “When China, USA & Russia did it then it was ok we can live with it, but when an Arab country does anything in sports that matches the highest level then its sport washing!”
Not alone in his frustrations, Carragher’s fellow Sky Sports analyst, Gary Neville, voiced Saudi Arabia’s increasing grip on football should be inspected.
“The Premier League should put an instant embargo on transfers to Saudi Arabia to ensure the integrity of the game isn’t being damaged. Checks should be made on the appropriateness of the transactions,” Neville told BBC Sport.
Double standards by the English – Watch the video report
Saudi Pro League – will be the best league in the world
The reality of the Saudi Football League is that it is here to stay. It is using the formula that the Premier League has used since the 90s exploiting the financially smaller leagues in Europe and taking all their best players. In order to create a global brand, which has since become the biggest league in world football. All the best world-class players were in Italy, Spain and Germany.
No world-class players used to consider moving to the Premier League until they offered more, absurd, money than the other leagues. They don’t want to live in Manchester, Newcastle, or Liverpool, they want to be in Rome, Milan, Madrid, and Barcelona, the weather, lifestyle, and culture are so much more appealing to them.
The difference is that the Saudis are not doing this with borrowed money, they are using their own and because they have so much of it, as absurd as it sounds, they will dwarf the premier league’s buying power.
Italian Commentator Ilaria D’Amico commented that ‘English clubs should be more concerned with the American ownerships who are taking over the English clubs and will soon be moving crucial games to America.’
It is an inevitable eventuality that the US will control the Premier League and despite the failings of launching the Super League the first time around; does not mean they have given up or forgotten about it, it is coming.
That crucially, leads to another significant point, who is funding all this PR and negative Saudi sentiment? well if you look at the sources, it’s mainly being driven by the Murdoch group and its associates in the US.
Research and References
Daily Mail Headline over Ronaldo’s link
When Cristiano Ronaldo speaks, people listen.
And so when he declared that the Saudi Pro League could become a ‘top five’ league in the world, perhaps more should have taken note.
‘I am happy here, I want to continue here, I will continue here,’ the Portuguese superstar, who is on a £173million-a-year deal to play for Al-Nassr, said.
And in my opinion, if they continue to do the work that they want to do here, for the next five years, I think the Saudi league can be a top-five league in the world.’
So, for now, all eyes are on the Kingdom and the players they are landing for the millions they are offering. Ronaldo took a chance and everyone scoffed, now as his peers join him, the Saudi Pro League is impossible to ignore.
War-mongering companies that profit from war
An analysis by the Financial Times reveals the extent to which both American and foreign companies have profited from the conflict — with the top 10 contractors securing business worth at least $72bn between them.
None has benefited more than KBR, once known as Kellogg Brown and Root. The controversial former subsidiary of Halliburton, which was once run by Dick Cheney, vice-president to George W. Bush, was awarded at least $39.5bn in federal contracts related to the Iraq war over the past decade.
Two Kuwaiti companies — Agility Logistics and the state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation — are the second and third-biggest winners, securing contracts worth $7.2bn and $6.3bn respectively.
The US hired more private companies in Iraq than in any previous war, and at times there were more contractors than military personnel on the ground.
https://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/19/business/iraq-war-contractors/index.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/06/saudi-arabias-new-love-for-soccer-could-cause-ripple-effects.html
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