The entire world football was open to the spectacle of magnificent stadiums, hotels, and hospitality, last year when the kingdom of Qatar hosted the FIFA World Cup. It was the first time that such a huge world sporting tournament had ever been brought to the entire Middle Eastern Region of the World.
It was a culmination of Qatar’s long effort to showcase their nation to the world using the entrepreneurial sagacity of their leadership. They have scored several business branding pluses using their flagship brand asset, Emirates Airlines. This organization has executed several corporate agreements with big sporting establishments, such as Real Madrid FC, AC Milan FC, Arsenal FC, Olympiacos FC, Chelsea FC, Benfica FC, and Hamburg S.V. for a country of its size, much has been achieved by them to establish their nation, as a business-friendly, liberal-minded Islamic state, without the restrictions existing within the economies of several of its neighbors.
BACKGROUND TO THE SAUDI ARABIAN FOOTBALL REVOLUTION
These foreign and economic policies of the Kingdom of Qatar, have never been a secret within the entire Middle East region and it was obvious that its success would encourage others to follow suit at the ripe time. In the past two decades funding from the Middle East has been used for investment into popular football club sides such as Manchester City, FC, Paris Saint Germain, and lately Newcastle United FC.
The emergence of Crown Prince Ibn Salman as a critical driving force in the political and economic policies of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia soon brought these expectations to manifestation. He’s consistently attracted high-profile wrestling and world boxing title matches to Riyadh and the new strategy of attracting quality world footballers to his country is another new dimension to the quest of making the Middle East a veritable location for sports and entertainment. The success of the Qatar FIFA World Cup appears to have further exposed the Middle East to several world football stars. The Erik Ten Hag and Cristiano Ronaldo imbroglio created a perfect opportunity to launch the Saudi Arabian football revolution in the most auspicious way. The latter led the pack of established footballers and coaches to arrive in Saudi, after the 2022 World Cup, and within a twinkle the total numbers make the Saudi League more star-packed than most leagues in Europe and obviously the United States of America.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?
It is obvious that the lure of money has attracted fantastic players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Sadio Mane, Fabinho, Alexander Mitrovic, Edward Mendy, Jordan Henderson, et al but surprisingly, the organizers have not complimented their strategy with the requisite media blitz and strategic broadcasts of their matches. Whilst money played a very important role in attracting the first football explorers, it might not be able to sustain the long-term relevance of this league. The big leagues in Europe also pay well, though, not like the Saudis. The lure of important trophies, such as the Ballon d’Or, UEFA Champions League, the EPL, LaLiga, German and even French league trophies still appear more attractive than whatever the Middle East can give and it would be no surprise, if this revolution collapses within a decade or less; or rather becomes a retirement destination for fagged players to earn their last pay!
Argentine World Cup Captain and multiple Balloon D’or winner, Lionel Messi have chosen the American League over Saudi Arabia, and this trend will continue for sometime, just the same way Edson Arantes de Nascimento Jnr(Pele), supported the failed American Football League launch of the mid-1970s. Overall, the soccer revolution has good prospects of being used to launder the Middle East as a liberal, rather than ultra-conservative society for everyone.
