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The Saudi Pro League has worked hard over the past year to establish broadcast agreements with foreign media groups and bring in new sponsors. The process started after Ronaldo became the first big name to move to Saudi Arabia. Since then, several big names, like Karim Benzema, Neymar Jr., Sadio Mane, and N’Golo Kante, have followed Ronaldo to the Middle East.
Al-Ittihad, a Saudi club, has reportedly expressed interest in purchasing Mohamed Salah, an Egyptian superstar, but it has not been confirmed by him yet. Additionally, Saudi Arabia is interested in talking about entering the UEFA Champions League, the most renowned club football competition in Europe.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Carlo Nohra, the chief operations officer of the Saudi Pro League, claimed that the broadcast revenue has surged by 650 percent since Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo joined the league after his mid-season exit from Manchester United in late 2022. Its games are now broadcast in about 140 different countries.
Several reports confirmed the Saudi League's desire to attempt to enter the European Championship over the last few weeks. To raise the calibre of their football, Saudi teams recently spent the equivalent of over $650 million in recent months. Neymar of Paris Saint-Germain and Karim Benzema of Real Madrid have joined Cristiano Ronaldo, who joined Al-Nassr in December 2022.
Nohra told Bloomberg, "We are trying to be different, so any kind of format changing or improvements that can be introduced into the league will be welcomed." He reiterated that the Saudi Pro League is still "completely committed" to playing in Asia's top club competition, the AFC Champions League.
However, any conversations regarding SPL teams joining the European Champions League would probably be handled between UEFA and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation. It will be fantastic to see these famous names return to Europe to compete in the UCL. Some non-European nations, like Kazakhstan, are members of UEFA, and their teams can compete in the Champions League.