Major investment in recruiting top-class stars hasn’t been enough to draw attention to the Saudi Pro League.
Despite signing some of the world’s most prominent football stars, the Saudi Pro League is struggling to draw significant crowds to its matches, even within the country itself.
The league’s ambitious recruitment drive included the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Riyad Mahrez, Jordan Henderson, and Fabinho. However, these star-studded lineups have failed to fill the stadiums in Saudi Arabia. For example, a mere 696 spectators attended Steven Gerrard’s Al-Ettifaq’s recent 1-0 defeat at Al-Riyadh.
Matches between Al-Akhdoud and Al-Feiha, and Al-Hazm and Al-Raed also saw less than 800 fans in attendance. The highest turnout was at King Abdullah Sports City when Al-Ahli played Al-Wehda, with 16,919 supporters, slightly more than the 16,875 who witnessed Cristiano Ronaldo score for Al-Nassr against Damac FC.
Comparatively, a match in England’s fourth tier between Bradford City and Wrexham attracted 21,552 spectators, surpassing the attendance of any Saudi Pro League game over the weekend. Moreover, two League One games and nine Championship fixtures had larger audiences.
The league’s average attendance is also underwhelming, with only four clubs, including Al-Ittihad, Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, and Al-Ahli, averaging more than 10,000 fans. Al-Ettifaq, despite playing in a 35,000 capacity stadium, averages 7,021 attendees per match, which is even lower than English fifth-tier side Chesterfield.
Notably, Al-Hilal’s draw against Al-Fayha garnered a record 59,600 fans, while an early September game saw a mere 133 attendees at Al-Okhdood’s victory over Al-Riyadh. The league hoped for higher attendance figures after acquiring global superstars but only saw a 24 percent increase from last year.
Despite these challenges, the Saudi Pro League secured lucrative TV deals for broadcasting in 130 different areas, increasing revenues nearly fourfold compared to the previous season.
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