Saudi football signings: millions of euros to become the best league in the world by 2034
The Vision 2030 strategy includes football as a strategic sector for the Saudi economy and aims to boost its league ahead of the 2034 World Cup
The Saudi Arabian League has become the new golden destination for footballers leaving the major European leagues, attracted by the high salaries offered by Saudi clubs.
This is a repeat of the phenomenon that occurred a few years ago with the Chinese Super League, which began to attract top European and American players and coaches with exorbitant transfer fees and salaries. That system collapsed when the Chinese government, in an effort to burst the bubble, imposed a 100% tax on club signings, banned companies from naming teams and set salary caps.
The Saudi government took note of all this when implementing its own project for the Saudi League. Like all the projects being launched in Saudi Arabia in recent years, this project is inspired by the Vision 2030 strategic plan, which aims to diversify revenue away from oil and seek new sectors in which to invest in order to obtain different sources of funding.
Football: a strategic sector
One of the Saudi government's objectives, set out in its Vision 2030, is to make the Saudi League one of the strongest in the world by 2034, when Saudi Arabia will host the World Cup, the second to be held in the Gulf region after Qatar in 2022.
Football has thus become another element of the “soft power” that Saudi Arabia uses to achieve global relevance. But that costs money, and billions need to be invested before the desired returns can be achieved.
For this reason, for several years now, the Saudi government has been making massive investments in a sector considered strategic, such as football, attracting world-class stars with high salaries, developing the sports entertainment industry, creating jobs in football-related sectors, and attracting sponsors and sports tourism.
Since Saudi Arabia began investing in football, there has been a paradigm shift: initially, the strategy was to attract big stars who were already at the level to continue playing in Europe but could still put on a show in a much less competitive league.
However, over the last couple of seasons, players with a different profile have begun to arrive in the Arab League, at the peak of their careers, rejecting top European teams in favour of the lucrative salaries offered by Saudi clubs.
This is the case of Spanish player Gabri Veiga, who stood out at Celta Vigo in the 2022-2023 season and, instead of joining the major European teams that were tracking him, signed with Al-Ahli at the age of just 21, where he played for two seasons before returning to Europe, specifically to Porto.
From then on, European clubs found themselves facing stiff competition from the Saudis when it came to bidding for the most sought-after players. The Arab League was no longer a “graveyard for elephants” but had become a new competitor in the international football market.
According to data from Transfermarket on signings for the 2025-2026 season, the 18 clubs that make up the Saudi League have a negative balance of €314.3 million. In other words, they have spent more on signings than they have earned from transfers.
Negative balance
It is true that this budgetary imbalance is mainly due to the most powerful teams: 10 of them have a negative balance in the transfer market, while eight are in the black, albeit with meagre amounts.
Among the clubs that have taken on the most debt are Al-Qadsiah (a negative balance of more than €116 million, in a market where they have signed 19 players and only transferred five); Neom (-€89.19 million, 14 signings and six departures); Al-Hilal (-€67.45 million, 15 signings and six departures); and Al-Nassr (-€55.86 million, 16 signings and five departures).
On the other hand, the clubs with the healthiest finances in this transfer market have been Al-Ettifaq (+€18.97 million, 25 signings and 19 departures); Al-Fateh (+€10.9 million, four signings and 11 departures); Al-Fayha (+€3.4 million, 11 signings and 10 departures); and Al-Riyadh (+€2.96 million, 23 signings and 17 departures).
As can be seen, this is an extremely active market, with a number of player signings and departures that would be unthinkable in European teams.
The huge investments made by some clubs have allowed them to sign important players, who have preferred the financial appeal of the Saudi league to offers from European clubs. In this market, the most attractive names have been:
- The Italian-Argentine Mateo Retegui, transferred from Atalanta to Al-Qadsiah for €68.25 million.
- Uruguayan Darwin Núñez, from Liverpool to Al-Hilal for €53 million.
- Portuguese Joao Felix, who, after winning La Liga with Atlético Madrid, passed without glory through Barcelona, Chelsea and Milan, before ending up at Al-Nassr for €30 million.
- French player Enzo Millot, transferred from Stuttgart to Al-Ahli for €28 million.
- Fellow French player Kingsley Coman, signed by Al-Nassr from Bayern Munich for €25 million.
- Theo Hernández, transferred from Milan to Al-Hilal for €25 million.
To these must be added other important players who, having ended their contracts, have arrived as free agents in the Saudi League, such as Spanish international Íñigo Martínez, who left F.C. Barcelona to sign for Al-Nassr.
Challenges ahead
The Saudi government's heavy investment in football, with the 2034 World Cup as its flagship event, is risky and still far from delivering the expected results.
One of the problems it faces is the reuse of the infrastructure being built for the World Cup: the King Salman Stadium in Riyadh, with a capacity of 92,760 spectators, and the other 14 stadiums, with more than 45,000 seats each, will be the venues for Saudi League matches in the future.
However, today, the average attendance at local league matches is less than 10,000 per game, a ridiculous figure compared to the capacity of the new facilities.
If it wants to make football a strategic sector, the Saudi government must mobilise the public to attend the stadiums.
International investment
Another way in which Saudi Arabia is using football as an element of “soft power” is through its presence on the international stage. For years, it has been committed to attracting major sporting events (including football) to its territory, organising competitions such as the Spanish Super Cup and the Italian Super Cup.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia is a shareholder in major global football clubs. The most prominent is Newcastle United in England, controlled since 2021 by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Its investment in this Premier League team is already paying off: last season it qualified for the Champions League, as well as winning the Carabao Cup (the English League Cup), its first title since 1955, after defeating Liverpool in the final at Wembley Stadium.
In Spain, the Saudi airline Riyadh Air (also owned by PIF) has sponsored Atlético Madrid since 2023, putting its name on the shirts and the Metropolitano stadium for €300 million over nine seasons. In addition, there has been speculation in recent months that the Saudi fund may increase its direct investment in the club, even to the point of controlling a majority stake.