tThe Saudi professional league season started Thursday before the international breakthrough, and Cristiano Ronaldo may say the Saudi professional league is one of the top five in the world. If so, the 40-year-old will definitely refer to the club's World Cup quarterfinals, paint with Real Madrid, and then beat Manchester City 4-3. But now there are other alliances that travel with Europe – American money has something in common.
In July, the Sports Department announced that three clubs had been in private hands. Al-Kholood is one of the only top tiers, taken over by Harburg Group, an American investment company, and run by venture capital investor Ben Harburg. “The first three Saudi sports clubs have been privatized through public offerings (Al Ansar, Al Kholod and Al Zulfi) and their ownership has been transferred to the investment entity,” the ministry said.
This is part of the alliance's strategy to raise foreign capital. Building the Al-Kholood brand is not easy: the club has already spent a lot of history on the top level and not in the Red Sea ports of Riyadh or Jeddah, but Ar Rass, a city with 120,000 people, about 250 miles northwest of the capital of 120,000. But there are some things to use.
Al-Kholood was promoted in 2024 and finished ninth last season, with 15 goals from Comoros International Myziane Maolida and defense including Nigerian centre-back William Troost-Ekong. The new owner brings English manager DeCakingham. The 40-year-old won the Indian Premier League with Mumbai City as part of the city football match and won the championship promotion with Oxford in 2024 before being fired in December, and he missed it after a poor record.
If England's second tier is considered the most competitive and open league, then the SPL is not bad in terms of potential winners, with four or even five of them. In the summer of 2023, Jeddah's Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli and Riyadh rivals Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr were taken over by public investment funds, and oil company Aramco was then involved in Al-Qadsiah. These are the top five of last season.
Al-Ittihad is the champion. The Tigers deserved title, in Karim Benzema's goal, helped the midfield glory of Moussa Diaby and N'Golo Kanté. Laurent Blanc brings the team together.
Al-Hilal finished second after losing the second half of the season. This brought Jorge Jesus as head coach and came at Simone Inzaghi. The Italians were impressed at the club World Cup and added Darwin Núñez to the offense, meaning that the 19-time champions who leaned to rebound after disappointment were also the teams beaten, even last season's best player Salem al-Dawsari was 34.
Ronaldo's al-nassr is next a late decision, handing them three points and third place (and into Asian club games) after losing to opponents. Stefano Pioli arrived from Italy a month after the start of last season, but the Italian coaches never settled down as the yellow relied on the glorious time of their star man. It is no surprise that he left all summer. In a move similar to Mikel Arteta, he left Arsenal in May and rose in July at Tottenham, Jesus returned to Riyadh.
Skip the newsletter promotion
register Football every day
Start your night with the Guardians’ view of the world of football
Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content funded by external parties. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy. We use Google Recaptcha to protect our website and Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
After the newsletter promotion
Ivan Toney was second only to Ronaldo last season. Photo: Click Image/Getty Image
The experienced Portuguese manager can call Ronaldo two years after his fellow countrymen sign a new contract. Jhon Durán is gone, and Kingsley Coman from Bayern Munich and João Félix arrives, who open his account in the Super Cup with the assistance of Ronaldo. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner has only 1,000 goals (the only player in four clubs a century) and doesn't mind the first major trophy in Saudi Arabia, which is close to his third anniversary in Saudi Arabia. Jesus led Al-Hilal to the dominant championship in 2024 and set a world record streak of 34 games along the way, which could make a difference.
Al-Ahli won the Asian Champions League for the first time in May, finishing fifth in the relatively disappointing domestic campaign, but making up for the relatively disappointing domestic campaign. After spending some time to settle, Ivan Toney quickly established an understanding with Riyad Mahrez and ended up being the second scorer, 23 more than Benzema and behind Ronaldo. Qadsiah ranked fourth in his first season after his promotion, originally third, but for Al-Nassr's three-point order. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang left to Marseille but has been replaced by Italian striker Mateo Retegui, which signed nearly £60m from Atlanta.
In other respects, focus will be on Neom SC, a promotion club representing a city that has not yet been built. The former Paris Saint-Germain manager Christophe Galtier is in charge of his funding. Even so, the Big Five is unlikely to become the Big Six.