Saudi Arabia is trying their best and spending a lot of money to popularize their country's football league but still they haven't made their country's league so popular. The players whose careers are over in the European League basically come to play for different clubs in the Saudi League. Not that young players are not offered in Saudi league but young players are offered huge amount of money but young players don't want to come to Saudi league to enhance their career. But if Saudi Arabia keeps trying more in the future, I believe they will be able to take this link to a better level in the future. If any club from the Saudi League gets the opportunity to play in the Champions League, then the popularity of this league will increase further.
We have seen that they is spending a lot of money to popularize their country's football league and they are looking to buy many of the best players. They have already bought several other players including Ronaldo Neymar. But one thing to note is the players that Saudi Arabia has already bought those players are too old. Moreover, this league has become much more popular since Cristiano Ronaldo came to Al Nassr club in Saudi Arabia. If Saudi Arabia can buy young players then maybe their league will become much more popular. At present, another older player may join the club in Saudi Arabia. 
Topic: FIFA World Cup 2026 :Canada/Mexico/United States: Discussion Thread - page 8. (Read 68825 times)
January 04, 2025, 01:59:52 AM
January 04, 2025, 01:29:52 AM
If Saudi Arabia didn't try, we might assume that there is no chance of them improving, but every season they try. Earlier we saw that Mbappe and Lionel Messi were offered record sums of money from Saudi Arabia only to come to Saudi Arabia on a one-year contract but they turned down the offer. Kylian Mbappé didn't come Lionel Messi didn't come but they didn't sit for them. It is also possible that they will offer another star player a bigger sum next season, which will force many star players to come to the Saudi league. A league will only be criticized when the league improves. The fact that some people are criticizing the Saudi league means that we have to understand that this league is slowly becoming popular and will become more popular in the future.
Right now, we have Saudi League into his first phase as they are spending huge funds for making their mark and having some solid fan base which is good strategy because right now they can spend huge funds after this we have second phase which could be more important specially now as they have rights of hosting FIFA World Cup 2034 this period is going to be more important for them with this we can have good structure and system which will help them for having good strategy for having long run policies for improving their competitiveness.If they are able to go through with their next phase then surely we will have good name of this league in top leagues because their sources are huge, and their strategy is also good now we have to check can they go with this roadmap without any problem of we will have things which will stop them, and they will be also ended like we have few other leagues in Asia.
January 03, 2025, 10:36:51 AM
You are wrong about discovering new talents. Sometimes you don't need to have a good league in the country to have better players because sometimes the players you need for the country are not the players they work in your league and that's why even getting the Saudi league improved cannot really solve anything for the Saudi Arabia team.
because there are some teams in Asia that have their players playing in the top European teams like Japan, If you check the Japanese players you can understand there are many players they have in the top European teams while they will have a much stronger team than Saudi Arabia because all they need is to give these young talents some chance to play.
But to be able to be at that level, a country must have a good foundation with their football. I think many players are constrained by some of the rules in the top leagues, such as in the English League. There is a rule there that players who can play there are players who come from countries that are ranked at least in the top 100 of the FIFA rankings (correct me if I'm wrong).because there are some teams in Asia that have their players playing in the top European teams like Japan, If you check the Japanese players you can understand there are many players they have in the top European teams while they will have a much stronger team than Saudi Arabia because all they need is to give these young talents some chance to play.
So this is also very important, it is true what you said, sometimes a good national team is a national team filled with players who have careers in other countries and that is Europe, you also gave a good example by saying Japan. However, Japan can also be like that because football in their country is very healthy so that players can easily have careers in the top leagues.
however, a good league will participate in building their national team from players who are also of good quality for competition on the world stage. We have seen how countries in Europe are indeed more dominant, they build their league well with full competition.
January 03, 2025, 10:25:38 AM
You are wrong about discovering new talents. Sometimes you don't need to have a good league in the country to have better players because sometimes the players you need for the country are not the players they work in your league and that's why even getting the Saudi league improved cannot really solve anything for the Saudi Arabia team.
because there are some teams in Asia that have their players playing in the top European teams like Japan, If you check the Japanese players you can understand there are many players they have in the top European teams while they will have a much stronger team than Saudi Arabia because all they need is to give these young talents some chance to play.
But to be able to be at that level, a country must have a good foundation with their football. I think many players are constrained by some of the rules in the top leagues, such as in the English League. There is a rule there that players who can play there are players who come from countries that are ranked at least in the top 100 of the FIFA rankings (correct me if I'm wrong).because there are some teams in Asia that have their players playing in the top European teams like Japan, If you check the Japanese players you can understand there are many players they have in the top European teams while they will have a much stronger team than Saudi Arabia because all they need is to give these young talents some chance to play.
So this is also very important, it is true what you said, sometimes a good national team is a national team filled with players who have careers in other countries and that is Europe, you also gave a good example by saying Japan. However, Japan can also be like that because football in their country is very healthy so that players can easily have careers in the top leagues.
January 03, 2025, 08:41:14 AM
Saudi Arabia is trying their best and spending a lot of money to popularize their country's football league but still they haven't made their country's league so popular. The players whose careers are over in the European League basically come to play for different clubs in the Saudi League. Not that young players are not offered in Saudi league but young players are offered huge amount of money but young players don't want to come to Saudi league to enhance their career. But if Saudi Arabia keeps trying more in the future, I believe they will be able to take this link to a better level in the future. If any club from the Saudi League gets the opportunity to play in the Champions League, then the popularity of this league will increase further.
I have answered this many times. Saudi Professional League got global audience only in 2023, when Ronaldo moved to Al Nassr. And it is going to take at least one decade more, for the SPL to rival any of the top European leagues. Look at the English Premier League. It took many decades for the EPL to reach the position it is at right now. And the funny thing is that the critics want SPL to achieve in one or two years, what the EPL has achieved in several decades. At the same time, they are ignoring the fact that the Saudi Professional League has already overtaken several of the European leagues, such as Ligue 1 and Bundesliga.
January 02, 2025, 11:58:36 AM
Saudi Arabia is trying their best and spending a lot of money to popularize their country's football league but still they haven't made their country's league so popular. The players whose careers are over in the European League basically come to play for different clubs in the Saudi League. Not that young players are not offered in Saudi league but young players are offered huge amount of money but young players don't want to come to Saudi league to enhance their career. But if Saudi Arabia keeps trying more in the future, I believe they will be able to take this link to a better level in the future. If any club from the Saudi League gets the opportunity to play in the Champions League, then the popularity of this league will increase further.
I have answered this many times. Saudi Professional League got global audience only in 2023, when Ronaldo moved to Al Nassr. And it is going to take at least one decade more, for the SPL to rival any of the top European leagues. Look at the English Premier League. It took many decades for the EPL to reach the position it is at right now. And the funny thing is that the critics want SPL to achieve in one or two years, what the EPL has achieved in several decades. At the same time, they are ignoring the fact that the Saudi Professional League has already overtaken several of the European leagues, such as Ligue 1 and Bundesliga.
January 02, 2025, 11:11:31 AM
the quality of their league is not yet at the level of Europe and their national team is not strong and will not be strong enough to win the World Cup. So they can host the World Cup, they can spend a lot of money signing old players who are leaving Europe because they have not been able to get a place in the top teams in Europe, in the end when Ronaldo retires no one will be talking about this league anymore and when they organize the World Cup, the winner of the tournament will be some team from Europe or Brazil or Argentina. These guys are just benefiting foreigners. Their native players do not earn as much money as foreign players, they do not even have 10% of the attention that foreign players have and their national team will not get far in the World Cup.
I quite agree with what you said that the quality of the Saudi Arabian league is not good enough and they will only be a place for old popular players who do not get a place in Europe. Their advantage lies only in funding where they are willing to pay old popular players to play in their league to get exposure, but I don't think this will last long since people are only focused on these players not on the quality of their league. Still, they have to develop their natural players so that this league is not only filled with old popular players, but also good talents who have European-class football skills. It's not easy, but they should have the money to back it all up.
Slow death said that it is not yet at the level of Europe. It will never be at the level of European top leagues because they are not competing with the European top leagues. This is the same for every other sport where one or a few nations have the upper hand and the best domestic leagues. If another league from far abroad tries to reach that level, they would need the intense competition that these top leagues have domestically. You can't copy that or imitate it by bringing in some old former top players hoping that they would magically raise the level of players in domestic leagues.
This idea won't work out for Saudi Arabia, but for them it was mostly about the attention, not so much that they were hoping that Ronaldo would bring the whole league to a higher level as that was unrealistic anyway.
He was right when he said Saudi Arabia will never be at the same level as the top European teams because the fact about Saudi Arabia is they just have the money and they pay too much money but that's not going to be enough at all. That's pretty much simple if they are in Asia you can't play against stronger teams to have stronger competitors and try harder.
Also, should invest more in the young talents and they also need to have a more stable team while they just get the coach fired after some bad results. This can make Saudi Arabia have weaker performance even after spending more money on them.
January 02, 2025, 09:25:30 AM
Ronaldo has reached the end of his career, regeneration in the Portuguese national team must be maintained well, so that their existence in various competitions continues to be taken into account. There are many talents who can replace Ronaldo role, we know their levels may be very different, but in time Portugal will have to struggle without Ronaldo. Ronaldo contribution to the Portuguese national team is very large, but perhaps relying on him in the upcoming 2026 World Cup is no longer effective.
On the one hand, FIFA as the organizer of the World Cup certainly hopes that Ronaldo can take part in the upcoming event, because he can attract quite a lot of fans in the competition. On the other hand, Portugal must choose younger players to rely on in every match. Maybe, Ronaldo is planning to retire when he is 40 years old, although many fans continue to hope to see him play for a longer time.
You may be right, the only thing is that in Portugal I don't see that there are any outstanding players, there may be Uichos, but one that covers the tremendous gap that CR7 is going to leave is very difficult, that's like saying that someone will replace Messe this World Cup, that's something almost impossible, I don't see any players like them, so it may be that CR7 is 40 years old, but if he's at the same level even if he's 90 years old he can continue like that and still be up to the task, what defends CR7 is that he's an athlete and is in better physical condition than many, and in football that's equivalent to almost 80%, because if you don't run, if you get tired then you simply can't play, this guy can resist much more than the younger players.
January 02, 2025, 06:14:44 AM
Until the Saudi Professional League grows to the extent of producing homegrown players that can be exported to top clubs in Europe it will remain under-recognized. Except the league can generate funds that will be used to run its operations and stop its over-reliance on government subventions, it will not develop. The government will not fund the league forever because it is not sustainable. The SPL had so much work to do before the benefits would begin to reflect in the national team.
For to produce talented players, it is not the influence of the League but how the Saudi Arabian Football Federation funds by building football academies from various ages from an early age until they enter adolescence and start building mentality and honing the skills of the players by bringing them together with several team from other academies out there, for example from Europe.That way Saudi Arabia will be able to produce more talented players and can help to create stronger national team quality in the future, for funding and also government subsidies that continue to support the SPL I think will continue, Saudi Arabia is one of the richest countries, they can spend large amounts of money for progress without worrying about financial limitations.
You are wrong about discovering new talents. Sometimes you don't need to have a good league in the country to have better players because sometimes the players you need for the country are not the players they work in your league and that's why even getting the Saudi league improved cannot really solve anything for the Saudi Arabia team.
because there are some teams in Asia that have their players playing in the top European teams like Japan, If you check the Japanese players you can understand there are many players they have in the top European teams while they will have a much stronger team than Saudi Arabia because all they need is to give these young talents some chance to play.
January 02, 2025, 05:22:33 AM
Cristiano Ronaldo's role in the Portuguese team is too much important but at the same time giving chance to new players is also important because he cannot play forever for the national team. If we talk about the 2026 World Cup, then i think the focus should be Cristiano Ronaldo's as no other player can take his role in such short span of time.
However, moving forward, the Portugal team need to play without him and develop players who can cover his spaces. One day Ronaldo will retire but still even his contribution for his team and for the game will always be remembered.
The important role created by Cristiano Ronaldo in the Portugal national team squad is really needed. Portugal should have lots of talented young players who can fill Cristiano Ronaldo's position, but it feels like the squad is incomplete without Ronaldo. Considering his age at the 2026 World Cup, Ronaldo will no longer appear to be a threat to the opposing team. However, moving forward, the Portugal team need to play without him and develop players who can cover his spaces. One day Ronaldo will retire but still even his contribution for his team and for the game will always be remembered.
But can take advantage of opponents because of age and physical factors. Cristiano Ronaldo's contribution to the team will still be remembered. The Portuguese national team is also looking at which player will fill Cristiano Ronaldo's position when he retires.
But he is one of the best European goal scorers in the national teams, which raises the question why you think he won't be a threat to the opponents anymore... It makes no sense because as long as he scores, there is no reason to bench him or replace him. The older he gets, the more important it will be that he scores because otherwise he provides reason to substitute him.
It is 2025 now and about 1.5 years until the next World Cup. I don't think his physique will differ much until then and I expect it to be about the same. Ronaldo is fully determined to make that World Cup be his last tournament and he knows what to do to make it happen. He is a top professional and he wants to prove that age is just a number. So far he has proven it without a doubt. I don't count his goals in the Saudi Professional League as very important goals, but his goals for the national team are important.
Of course things can change quickly when an injury happens or a coach gets changed and doesn't to work with Ronaldo anymore, but as it stands for now I think we will see Ronaldo play the World Cup 2026.
January 01, 2025, 02:24:53 PM
Cristiano Ronaldo's role in the Portuguese team is too much important but at the same time giving chance to new players is also important because he cannot play forever for the national team. If we talk about the 2026 World Cup, then i think the focus should be Cristiano Ronaldo's as no other player can take his role in such short span of time.
However, moving forward, the Portugal team need to play without him and develop players who can cover his spaces. One day Ronaldo will retire but still even his contribution for his team and for the game will always be remembered.
The important role created by Cristiano Ronaldo in the Portugal national team squad is really needed. Portugal should have lots of talented young players who can fill Cristiano Ronaldo's position, but it feels like the squad is incomplete without Ronaldo. Considering his age at the 2026 World Cup, Ronaldo will no longer appear to be a threat to the opposing team. However, moving forward, the Portugal team need to play without him and develop players who can cover his spaces. One day Ronaldo will retire but still even his contribution for his team and for the game will always be remembered.
But can take advantage of opponents because of age and physical factors. Cristiano Ronaldo's contribution to the team will still be remembered. The Portuguese national team is also looking at which player will fill Cristiano Ronaldo's position when he retires.
January 01, 2025, 02:24:41 PM
Cristiano Ronaldo's role in the Portuguese team is too much important but at the same time giving chance to new players is also important because he cannot play forever for the national team. If we talk about the 2026 World Cup, then i think the focus should be Cristiano Ronaldo's as no other player can take his role in such short span of time.
However, moving forward, the Portugal team need to play without him and develop players who can cover his spaces. One day Ronaldo will retire but still even his contribution for his team and for the game will always be remembered.
Ronaldo has reached the end of his career, regeneration in the Portuguese national team must be maintained well, so that their existence in various competitions continues to be taken into account. There are many talents who can replace Ronaldo role, we know their levels may be very different, but in time Portugal will have to struggle without Ronaldo. Ronaldo contribution to the Portuguese national team is very large, but perhaps relying on him in the upcoming 2026 World Cup is no longer effective.However, moving forward, the Portugal team need to play without him and develop players who can cover his spaces. One day Ronaldo will retire but still even his contribution for his team and for the game will always be remembered.
On the one hand, FIFA as the organizer of the World Cup certainly hopes that Ronaldo can take part in the upcoming event, because he can attract quite a lot of fans in the competition. On the other hand, Portugal must choose younger players to rely on in every match. Maybe, Ronaldo is planning to retire when he is 40 years old, although many fans continue to hope to see him play for a longer time.
January 01, 2025, 10:28:41 AM
I am not pleased with the way the Portuguese national team has treated Cristiano Ronaldo. He has carried the entire burden on his shoulders for almost two decades and even now they insult him by not picking him in the starting XI. Just imagine Portugal without Ronaldo. They would not have qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup without him. But then, the world is becoming increasingly ungrateful. At least Ronaldo did the right thing by moving to Saudi Arabia, rather than allowing Manchester United to treat him the same way that Portuguese team has treated him.
There are not two opinions about Ronaldo and his services for Portugal and soccer but as things are going we have to understand new players are also deserved better playtime and atmosphere for having their best even he is almost important for team but as we have new players surely they needed more exposure with this as we all know he is one man army for Portugal many times we have he want things which create difference of interest and this create feud in team just because of this many players not like his role in team.But surely he is the legendary player, and we all know what he is doing with what he still can do in future but most chances now winning soccer world cup under his name is looking not possible because current depth of team is not good, but hopefully we will have better performance and better results in 2026 world from them.
Cristiano Ronaldo's role in the Portuguese team is too much important but at the same time giving chance to new players is also important because he cannot play forever for the national team. If we talk about the 2026 World Cup, then i think the focus should be Cristiano Ronaldo's as no other player can take his role in such short span of time.
However, moving forward, the Portugal team need to play without him and develop players who can cover his spaces. One day Ronaldo will retire but still even his contribution for his team and for the game will always be remembered.
January 01, 2025, 09:42:51 AM
Until the Saudi Professional League grows to the extent of producing homegrown players that can be exported to top clubs in Europe it will remain under-recognized. Except the league can generate funds that will be used to run its operations and stop its over-reliance on government subventions, it will not develop. The government will not fund the league forever because it is not sustainable. The SPL had so much work to do before the benefits would begin to reflect in the national team.
LOL.. why the Saudi Professional League need to export players to the top European leagues? Why can't it be the other way around? Future looks bleak for the European leagues anyway (especially for the Bundesliga and Ligue 1). European economy is not growing (and may start to contract within the next few years, with Trump in office), and the population is rapidly ageing. Migration can't sustain European football for too long, as the migrant inflow will stop as many of the African economies are rapidly growing at the moment. Matter of time in near future we will have problems for many European leagues increase with this we will be having no enough investments for them, and they could be lost their way of controlling soccer as they were doing in last few decades.
January 01, 2025, 06:56:30 AM
Until the Saudi Professional League grows to the extent of producing homegrown players that can be exported to top clubs in Europe it will remain under-recognized. Except the league can generate funds that will be used to run its operations and stop its over-reliance on government subventions, it will not develop. The government will not fund the league forever because it is not sustainable. The SPL had so much work to do before the benefits would begin to reflect in the national team.
For to produce talented players, it is not the influence of the League but how the Saudi Arabian Football Federation funds by building football academies from various ages from an early age until they enter adolescence and start building mentality and honing the skills of the players by bringing them together with several team from other academies out there, for example from Europe.That way Saudi Arabia will be able to produce more talented players and can help to create stronger national team quality in the future, for funding and also government subsidies that continue to support the SPL I think will continue, Saudi Arabia is one of the richest countries, they can spend large amounts of money for progress without worrying about financial limitations.
January 01, 2025, 04:42:51 AM
I am not pleased with the way the Portuguese national team has treated Cristiano Ronaldo. He has carried the entire burden on his shoulders for almost two decades and even now they insult him by not picking him in the starting XI. Just imagine Portugal without Ronaldo. They would not have qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup without him. But then, the world is becoming increasingly ungrateful. At least Ronaldo did the right thing by moving to Saudi Arabia, rather than allowing Manchester United to treat him the same way that Portuguese team has treated him.
There are not two opinions about Ronaldo and his services for Portugal and soccer but as things are going we have to understand new players are also deserved better playtime and atmosphere for having their best even he is almost important for team but as we have new players surely they needed more exposure with this as we all know he is one man army for Portugal many times we have he want things which create difference of interest and this create feud in team just because of this many players not like his role in team.But surely he is the legendary player, and we all know what he is doing with what he still can do in future but most chances now winning soccer world cup under his name is looking not possible because current depth of team is not good, but hopefully we will have better performance and better results in 2026 world from them.
December 31, 2024, 09:18:18 PM
Until the Saudi Professional League grows to the extent of producing homegrown players that can be exported to top clubs in Europe it will remain under-recognized. Except the league can generate funds that will be used to run its operations and stop its over-reliance on government subventions, it will not develop. The government will not fund the league forever because it is not sustainable. The SPL had so much work to do before the benefits would begin to reflect in the national team.
LOL.. why the Saudi Professional League need to export players to the top European leagues? Why can't it be the other way around? Future looks bleak for the European leagues anyway (especially for the Bundesliga and Ligue 1). European economy is not growing (and may start to contract within the next few years, with Trump in office), and the population is rapidly ageing. Migration can't sustain European football for too long, as the migrant inflow will stop as many of the African economies are rapidly growing at the moment.
December 31, 2024, 05:39:43 PM
I quite agree with what you said that the quality of the Saudi Arabian league is not good enough and they will only be a place for old popular players who do not get a place in Europe. Their advantage lies only in funding where they are willing to pay old popular players to play in their league to get exposure, but I don't think this will last long since people are only focused on these players not on the quality of their league. Still, they have to develop their natural players so that this league is not only filled with old popular players, but also good talents who have European-class football skills. It's not easy, but they should have the money to back it all up.
Until the Saudi Professional League grows to the extent of producing homegrown players that can be exported to top clubs in Europe it will remain under-recognized. Except the league can generate funds that will be used to run its operations and stop its over-reliance on government subventions, it will not develop. The government will not fund the league forever because it is not sustainable. The SPL had so much work to do before the benefits would begin to reflect in the national team. 
December 31, 2024, 05:16:26 PM
As far as I know Ronaldo didn't always play as a starter and when they won against Switzerland 6-1 in the round of 16, he was substituted for another striker later in the game when it was literally over. It wasn't that he got all the chances he might have needed, but it was at a time when some of the Portuguese players expressed their discomfort about Ronaldo being responsible for everything and having all the privileges during the game. I think that is why the coach let him sit on the bench sometimes.
I wonder what it is going to be like at the next World Cup if Ronaldo keeps scoring goals until then. The fans know that this will be his last World Cup then and they might demand that he plays. But this would not be the best for the team as a whole perhaps.
I wonder what it is going to be like at the next World Cup if Ronaldo keeps scoring goals until then. The fans know that this will be his last World Cup then and they might demand that he plays. But this would not be the best for the team as a whole perhaps.
I am not pleased with the way the Portuguese national team has treated Cristiano Ronaldo. He has carried the entire burden on his shoulders for almost two decades and even now they insult him by not picking him in the starting XI. Just imagine Portugal without Ronaldo. They would not have qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup without him. But then, the world is becoming increasingly ungrateful. At least Ronaldo did the right thing by moving to Saudi Arabia, rather than allowing Manchester United to treat him the same way that Portuguese team has treated him.
December 31, 2024, 03:52:55 PM
the quality of their league is not yet at the level of Europe and their national team is not strong and will not be strong enough to win the World Cup. So they can host the World Cup, they can spend a lot of money signing old players who are leaving Europe because they have not been able to get a place in the top teams in Europe, in the end when Ronaldo retires no one will be talking about this league anymore and when they organize the World Cup, the winner of the tournament will be some team from Europe or Brazil or Argentina. These guys are just benefiting foreigners. Their native players do not earn as much money as foreign players, they do not even have 10% of the attention that foreign players have and their national team will not get far in the World Cup.
I quite agree with what you said that the quality of the Saudi Arabian league is not good enough and they will only be a place for old popular players who do not get a place in Europe. Their advantage lies only in funding where they are willing to pay old popular players to play in their league to get exposure, but I don't think this will last long since people are only focused on these players not on the quality of their league. Still, they have to develop their natural players so that this league is not only filled with old popular players, but also good talents who have European-class football skills. It's not easy, but they should have the money to back it all up.
Slow death said that it is not yet at the level of Europe. It will never be at the level of European top leagues because they are not competing with the European top leagues. This is the same for every other sport where one or a few nations have the upper hand and the best domestic leagues. If another league from far abroad tries to reach that level, they would need the intense competition that these top leagues have domestically. You can't copy that or imitate it by bringing in some old former top players hoping that they would magically raise the level of players in domestic leagues.
This idea won't work out for Saudi Arabia, but for them it was mostly about the attention, not so much that they were hoping that Ronaldo would bring the whole league to a higher level as that was unrealistic anyway.
He was right when he said Saudi Arabia will never be at the same level as the top European teams because the fact about Saudi Arabia is they just have the money and they pay too much money but that's not going to be enough at all. That's pretty much simple if they are in Asia you can't play against stronger teams to have stronger competitors and try harder.
Also, should invest more in the young talents and they also need to have a more stable team while they just get the coach fired after some bad results. This can make Saudi Arabia have weaker performance even after spending more money on them.
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