Saudi Arabia caused a big surprise at the 2022 World Cup - Photo: REUTERS
Falling in FIFA rankings
Early morning of March 21 (Vietnam time), Saudi Arabia will have an extremely important match with China in the 7th match of Group C of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia. A match that they cannot afford to lose, with an extremely heavy price to pay.
But after losing to Indonesia and being held to a draw by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia has not shown any signs of rising in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. They have only 6 points after 6 rounds, equal to the bottom team China (only with a better goal difference).
The poor results have pushed Saudi Arabia down the FIFA rankings. According to the latest FIFA rankings, Saudi Arabian football is ranked 59th in the world, and 8th in Asia.
At the end of 2022, after the World Cup ended, Saudi Arabia was ranked 48th in the world, and 5th in Asia. They had a significant step back, with the main milestone being the presence of... Ronaldo.
Of course, Ronaldo playing in the Saudi Pro League cannot directly affect the performance of the Saudi Arabian team. But if we look at the whole picture, it is the superstar trend that originated from Ronaldo that has put the Saudi Arabian team in danger.
Chinese football is a lesson. A decade ago, mainland football experts commented that the inflation of foreign players in the China Super League had deprived local players of regular playing opportunities.
China's mistake
Saudi Arabia is repeating that tragedy today, in a context quite similar to China.
Unlike Iran, Japan and South Korea, Saudi Arabian players have traditionally played only in their home leagues. But their opportunities have been significantly reduced as Saudi Arabia has brought in a flood of world-class stars to the Saudi Pro League.
The Saudi Pro League is the most lenient league in terms of registering foreign players, allowing each team to have a maximum of 10 foreign players. More than half of the teams in the Saudi Pro League have used up this "quota".
It is too difficult for Saudi Arabian players to get into the attack line with Ronaldo and Mane - Photo: REUTERS
Specifically, Al-Nassr Club registered a total of 10 foreign players. In addition to Ronaldo, there are also superstars such as Mane, Duran, Otavio, Brozovic... Most of them are concentrated in the forward line, leading to the Saudi Arabian players running out of opportunities to play.
Abdullah Al-Hamdan is an example. Three years ago, he was considered a bright talent of Arab football when he scored 6 goals in his first 10 appearances for the national team.
But Al-Hamdan has now fallen into a terrible slump, he has not scored a goal in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. And in the past 3 years, this 25-year-old striker has only scored in the Arabian Gulf Cup - a friendly tournament in which Saudi Arabia only sends "free" players to participate.
Al-Hamdan has only played 11 times for Al-Hilal this season and scored only 2 goals. It is understandable that Al-Hamdan cannot compete with the superstar duo Mitrovic - Leonardo.
Or Mohammed Maran, also considered a gem a few years ago, has been fading away in Al-Nassr's shirt. Before Ronaldo arrived, Maran - in his twenties - played about 20 matches/season. But now, his playing time is only measured in minutes. And he has even been eliminated from the Saudi Arabian team.
According to Transfermarkt, Saudi Arabia's 2022 World Cup squad had a total player value of 49 million euros. But after more than 2 years, the corresponding figure has dropped to only 31 million euros.
Ronaldo, Benzema can help Saudi Pro League become more exciting. But Saudi Arabian football is following in China's footsteps.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bong-da-saudi-arabia-sa-sut-tu-khi-co-ronaldo-20250319131623862.htm
Comment (0)