Ronaldo retires, funding falls: Is the Saudi Pro League losing its appeal?

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Image Credits: BEIN Sports

The Saudi Pro League was designed to become football’s next global powerhouse.

Starting in 2022, Saudi Arabia transformed its domestic competition from a league rarely discussed outside the Middle East into one of the biggest stories in world football. Cristiano Ronaldo arrived at Al-Nasar in 2022. Karim Benzema followed suit a year later. Sadio Mané, Neymar, N’golo Kante and other established stars made the move. Billions were spent, and suddenly the Saudi Pro League was impossible to ignore.

But the formula that created the league’s global attention is beginning to change. Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed that this season will probably be his last in professional football. Funding for Saudi clubs is being reduced, and the league’s transfer strategy is moving away from the ageing superstars that defined its rise.

So, is the Saudi Pro League entering the next stage of its development, or beginning to lose the very things that made it relevant?

Ronaldo’s final season could leave a huge hole

For all the talk about Saudi Arabia’s investment, there is no escaping one fact: Cristiano Ronaldo changed everything. When the Portuguese superstar moved to Al-Nassr during the 2022-2023 season, he became the face of the Saudi Pro League almost overnight. His arrival helped turn Saudi football into a global talking point and opened the door for other major names to follow.

Now, that era could be coming to an end. In an interview with Vogue, Ronaldo said that 2026–27 is “probably” his last year of football and that he wants to leave a “spectacular legacy”. At 41, the Al-Nassr captain has already reached the final stages of a career that has lasted more than two decades.

For the Saudi Pro League, however, his retirement is about more than one player. Ronaldo is a global marketing machine. His goals, interviews, and social media presence have given Al-Nassr and the league itself an international audience that few Saudi players could generate on their own.

The question is simple: when Ronaldo leaves, how much of that attention leaves with him?

The funding cuts change the equation

The second problem is money. The Saudi Pro League’s rapid growth has been built on extraordinary levels of investment. The Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) involvement in four of Saudi Arabia’s biggest clubs helped finance the recruitment of some of football’s biggest names.

Now, that spending is being reined in. The PIF sold 70% of its stake in Al-Hilal and has cut funding to the highly controversial LIV Golf league completely. That does not mean Saudi football is suddenly broke. It does, however, represent a significant change from the spending spree that made the league famous.

This is where the Saudi Pro League faces its biggest test. When you have almost unlimited financial power, attracting players is relatively straightforward. When the money becomes tighter, clubs have to compete on something else.

The league now has to prove that it can offer development and growth of its homegrown talent too. That will also help to build invested supporters and a sustainable football culture.

The superstar shopping spree is slowing down

The transfer market is already beginning to look different. In 2023, the Saudi Pro League’s recruitment strategy was difficult to miss: identify the biggest names in European football and bring them to Saudi Arabia. Ronaldo earns $6.1 million (3.2 million pounds) a week. Neymar remains the record signing of the SPL, costing Al Hilal $147 million (90 million euros) from Paris Saint-Germain.

The list went on. But the league’s approach is now shifting. Rather than simply targeting established stars in the latter stages of their careers, Saudi clubs are increasingly looking at younger players with potential and resale value. Al-Hilal’s signing of 24-year-old Dutch winger Crysencio Summerville is one example of that change.

That could be good business. But it is also less glamorous. There is a big difference between announcing Ronaldo or Neymar and announcing a promising 24-year-old winger. One generates worldwide headlines; the other requires dedicated fans who have been invested in the SPL because of those headline signings.

That could make the league harder to market internationally in the short term. Yet perhaps that is exactly what Saudi football needs. The league cannot rely forever on players who are already famous elsewhere, and the SPL will have to be increasingly smart with its investments.

There is a reason to believe in the project

It would be easy to look at Ronaldo’s retirement, reduced spending and fewer superstar signings and declare the Saudi Pro League will become irrelevant. The league has already achieved something that would have seemed unlikely only a few years ago: it has forced itself into the global football conversation.

Saudi clubs are now internationally recognisable, the competition has attracted genuine world-class talent and the league has a much larger global profile than it did before 2022.

More importantly, the shift away from ageing superstars could eventually make the competition stronger. Instead of spending endlessly on players approaching the end of their careers, Saudi clubs can invest in younger footballers, local talent and long-term development. The league has acknowledged that improving domestic football and giving Saudi players greater opportunities is a more sustainable goal than simply collecting famous names.

That is the real opportunity. Ronaldo may have been the reason millions of people first looked at the Saudi Pro League, but he does not have to be the reason they stay.

The next stage of Saudi football will not be judged on how it invests in football ahead of its 2034 FIFA World Cup. The Saudi Pro League has already proved that money can buy attention, but now it has to fight to keep it before the world descends on the country in eight years.

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Sydney FC bolsters business strategy with third-year ABCC partnership

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Image Credit: Sydney FC

Sydney FC is extending its partnership with the Australian British Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) for a third year, strengthening the connection between the club’s corporate network and the wider business community.

The partnership will give ABCC members access to Sydney FC’s Business Club, it’s new The Collective networking platform and a range of events throughout the 2026/27 season.

ABCC members had already been attending Sydney FC matches and networking through hospitality, and last season the organisations built on that connection by collaborating on a pre‑World Cup business event featuring former players and football industry figures.

ABCC Chief Commercial Officer Paul Wright said the partnership had provided members with opportunities to engage with the club and its business community.

“We are delighted to continue the strong partnership between the Australian British Chamber of Commerce and Sydney FC for the third consecutive year,” Wright said.

Sydney FC Commercial and Marketing General Manager Matt Pound said the relationship was creating opportunities beyond traditional matchday hospitality.

“There’s a large appetite for collaboration between the Sydney FC business club and those within the ABCC, with numerous partnership opportunities being developed through this collaboration,” Pound said.

The continued partnership will also see Sydney FC benefit from member introductions through the ABCC, while the club will contribute speakers to selected Chamber events and feature in its quarterly magazine.

For Sydney FC, the partnership provides another established business network through which to develop its broader commercial strategy, following the recent launch of The Collective.

The club is increasingly positioning its corporate relationships around networking and business development, using football and its existing commercial community as a platform for connections beyond sponsorship and matchday hospitality.

Football must set financial rules of engagement following FIFA Forward Enterprise crisis

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Never before has football had such deep access to capital, or faced such complex questions about what that means for the future of the sport.

Private equity firms are investing in clubs, institutional investors are moving into stadiums and sports infrastructure, and clubs are looking beyond broadcasting and matchday revenue towards property, hospitality, entertainment and technology.

The question is no longer whether football needs investments. It’s what happens when investment starts influencing the way the game is run.

The issue came sharply into focus this year when FIFA proposed creating FIFA Forward Enterprise, a new FIFA-owned subsidiary that would bring together its commercial and event operations. The concept would effectively place the World Cup, the crown jewel of global football and FIFA’s blue chip stock, inside an investable structure. 

The proposal envisaged raising up to $6 billion by selling minority, non-controlling stakes in the subsidiary to external investors, based on an initial valuation of $29 billion. FIFA said the additional capital would help increase development funding for its 211 member associations.

The proposal triggered a governance crisis, while major questions about Gianni Infantino’s tenure as FIFA President continue.

UEFA, CONCACAF and (to a lesser-extent) the AFC were among the confederations to object, variously stating they had learned about the proposal through media reports rather than through FIFA’s own consultation process.

Amid a firestorm of criticism, the proposal was ultimately abandoned.

Now, Gianni Infantino has proposed an independent review of the organisation’s governance framework for major strategic initiatives, including how responsibility is divided between the president, Bureau, Council and Congress.

That makes this bigger than one investment proposal.

It’s a debate about who should control football’s commercial future.

Capital isn’t the enemy

There is an obvious argument in favour of private investment.

Football is an expensive business.

At club level, the relationship between capital and football is becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex.

RC Lens recently brought infrastructure investor Entrepreneur Equity Partners into its ownership structure, with the club saying the investment will fund development around the Stade Bollaert-Delelis and help create new revenue opportunities beyond matchdays.

Alas, there is a cost that comes with the capital. 

Investors ultimately expect a financial return. This won’t always conflict with supporters’ interests, but it can create different priorities.

Whereas a supporter might value affordability, identity and competitive success, an investor might instead look at property development, hospitality, commercial growth and the long-term value of an asset.

Neither perspective is inherently wrong.

But problems begin when financial objectives and football objectives stop overlapping and start pointing in different directions.

The ownership question

Chelsea provides a useful example of how quickly football ownership can change.

Clearlake Capital has now taken full control of the London club after acquiring the stakes previously held by Todd Boehly and Mark Walter, in a transaction that values the club at around $9.5 billion including debt. Todd Boehly only invested in the club four years ago.

That does not mean Chelsea’s new ownership structure is better or worse than before.

It demonstrates something important about modern football.

Football is becoming an asset class

That is perhaps the biggest change.

Football is no longer simply something wealthy individuals buy because they love the sport.

It is increasingly being viewed by institutional investors as an asset class with multiple potential revenue streams.

That means the investment opportunity can extend beyond owning a club.

There is private capital in stadiums, infrastructure, media rights, technology, sponsorship businesses and surrounding property.

It also explains why the FIFA proposal was so significant.

FIFA was effectively exploring whether the enormous commercial value of its competitions could be packaged into an investable structure.

FIFA argued investors would hold minority positions and would not receive control over sporting decisions or governance. It also argued the additional commercial value could increase funding available to football associations around the world.

That is a legitimate commercial proposition.

But once an asset is valued in the billions and external investors are being invited to participate, questions about control inevitably follow.

Who decides which commercial opportunities are pursued?

What happens when investors want one thing and football stakeholders want another?

And perhaps most importantly, who ultimately gets the benefit from football becoming more valuable?

The danger isn’t investment. It’s misalignment.

Football should not pretend it can grow without capital.

Football today requires enormous amounts of it.

The challenge is ensuring investment strengthens the sport rather than gradually redefining what the sport means to fans.

There are good reasons for clubs to develop their stadiums, diversify revenue and attract institutional capital.

There are also good reasons for supporters, players, federations and communities to ask what they receive in return.

FIFA’s recent episode demonstrates how quickly these questions can become political as well as financial.

The fact FIFA is now considering an independent governance review following such backlash shows the debate is not simply about whether the investment proposal was commercially sensible, but also about how decisions of that scale should be made.

That may be the most important question for football’s next financial era.

Private capital is here to stay. The tap isn’t turning off.

So, it’s critical football determines its rules of engagement before the next billion-dollar proposal lands on the table.

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