Saudi Pro League

[Xela]

Atletico Madrid's shirt sponsor is Riyadh Air, a Saudi airline. 

The airline has ZERO planes. 

Sportswashing. 

[villa4europe]

21 minutes ago, Xela said:

Atletico Madrid's shirt sponsor is Riyadh Air, a Saudi airline. 

The airline has ZERO planes. 

Sportswashing. 

But to be fair to them that does actually make a bit of sense, its a new airline that now has its name out there, by the time they start operating people will be familiar with them

I'm sure the whole sports washing thing started with fly Emirates and arsenal

Edit - and reading their website it sounds like this is what dubai / fly Emirates is, it's tourism washing, they're trying to make Riyadh a viable holiday destination, same as dubai if they succeed then forget it it's all over

Edited August 29, 2023 by villa4europe

[Genie]

57 minutes ago, Xela said:

Atletico Madrid's shirt sponsor is Riyadh Air, a Saudi airline. 

The airline has ZERO planes. 

Sportswashing. 

Not even trying to hide it 

[Rds1983]

44 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

But to be fair to them that does actually make a bit of sense, its a new airline that now has its name out there, by the time they start operating people will be familiar with them

I'm sure the whole sports washing thing started with fly Emirates and arsenal

Edit - and reading their website it sounds like this is what dubai / fly Emirates is, it's tourism washing, they're trying to make Riyadh a viable holiday destination, same as dubai if they succeed then forget it it's all over

I've never been to the Middle East and have little desire to do so, but I'm curious how Dubai has changed since becoming a tourist mecca?

Saudi are clearly trying to follow the footsteps and get the social media influencers and celebrities to promote them as the place to be seen. 

But surely if you court the West to go there, it has to be hospitable to the West? It has to then be welcoming to all that tourism involves, be it alcohol, women's rights, or LGBT.

Had Dubai's position on these things softened in recent year's?

[villa4europe]

I'm going to dubai next month, wife wants to go, spoke to her about knees and shoulders, holding hands etc etc and shes convinced that's mostly gone, scaremongering from the press, there's still some weird things like unmarried couples can't share a  hotel roomfollow my hotel on insta and the beach bar there and it definitley looks relaxed, could be ibiza by the look of it, crazy expensive to drink and I think they come down hard on drunk people but you can do it

LGBT I'm not so sure, I doubt it's changed much

Not sure if dubai was more relaxed to start with, if it's the washing or if the influx of tourists and expats has meant they've naturally just relaxed

SA might be the same but the start point seems waaaaaaay higher, I'm still convinced tourism does more than football though when making a country socially acceptable, places like dubai, China, USA all backward countries that are accepted because they're holiday destinations

[VillaJ100]

My cousin and her husband have recently moved back to the UK from Dubai as they said it didn't feel comfortable to be there any more. Not sure if due to crackdowns on morality or what etc.

I had friends who worked in Qatar about 15 years ago. They said that alcohol was a big racket as you could only drink in private or in hotel bars, but you couldn't be in public having had a drink, so if you went to a hotel car, you had to stay the night, as to leave would mean you're in public having drank.

[The_Steve]

Hope the money is worth it for those who join in a country which passes a death sentence based on critical tweets

 

 

[duke313]

On 24/08/2023 at 16:00, blandy said:

There’s degrees though. Some leagues kind of evolved out of teams already existing and wanting to set up a regular set of fixtures and be a bit more organised, others are completely artificial where clubs are created in order to form a league, as is the case with the US in the past, and Saudi now. Obviously, to stay on topic, these clubs then need to be heavily involved in player recruitment in transfer windows. They’re not so much selling and buying, as just buying to create squads for their new teams and new competition. It’s more akin to the IPL, or the Hundred in cricket than it is to (say) the English football league.

Al Hilal are older than PSG.

[blandy]

8 minutes ago, duke313 said:

Al Hilal are older than PSG.

Maybe so (definitely so). They're older than MK Dons, too.

I don't think anyone can argue with the various dates and founding years of either the clubs or the league itself. But what's happened is that (I think) 4 or so clubs from their league have been injected with enormous sums of money by the Saudi state, with the aim of rocketing those clubs into global fame via famous player acquisitions and so on, both to Sportswash the Saudi state, to improve chances of getting a World Cup hosting, to aim to see if they can get into the Champions League - again Sportswashing aims on the back of money. The clubs have kept their original names and colours etc. but they're effectively not the same clubs any more. It's like Man City or PSG or Newcastle on even stronger steroids.

[bannedfromHandV]

6 minutes ago, blandy said:

Maybe so (definitely so). They're older than MK Dons, too.

I don't think anyone can argue with the various dates and founding years of either the clubs or the league itself. But what's happened is that (I think) 4 or so clubs from their league have been injected with enormous sums of money by the Saudi state, with the aim of rocketing those clubs into global fame via famous player acquisitions and so on, both to Sportswash the Saudi state, to improve chances of getting a World Cup hosting, to aim to see if they can get into the Champions League - again Sportswashing aims on the back of money. The clubs have kept their original names and colours etc. but they're effectively not the same clubs any more. It's like Man City or PSG or Newcastle on even stronger steroids.

I wonder if the long term goal is to have a franchise league like the US. Perhaps they plan to build up the leagues appeal before selling off the franchises to interested parties.

[Zatman]

Gerrard is signing Wijnaldum to play with Henderson. He has absolute zero creative thinking

Thank got we didn't sign him last summer

[imavillan]

So, Liverpool reject a 150 million bid for Salah from Al Ittihad

The crazy situation is the Saudi transfer window closes way after the Premier League and Europe

There could be players leaving after our window shuts, leaving clubs with no chance of getting a replacement.

When does the Saudi Pro League transfer window close?

There is some confusion over how much longer the Saudi Pro League have to sign players.

FIFA have their transfer deadline day listed as Wednesday, September 20.

Meanwhile, on the league's website, they claim teams have until Thursday, September 7 to sign players.

[ender4]

6 minutes ago, imavillan said:

So, Liverpool reject a 150 million bid for Salah from Al Ittihad

The crazy situation is the Saudi transfer window closes way after the Premier League and Europe

There could be players leaving after our window shuts, leaving clubs with no chance of getting a replacement.

When does the Saudi Pro League transfer window close?

There is some confusion over how much longer the Saudi Pro League have to sign players.

FIFA have their transfer deadline day listed as Wednesday, September 20.

Meanwhile, on the league's website, they claim teams have until Thursday, September 7 to sign players.

Starting bid.  FSG aren’t going to say no to £200m for an older player who will fade ove the next year or two. 

[Genie]

2 hours ago, ender4 said:

Starting bid.  FSG aren’t going to say no to £200m for an older player who will fade ove the next year or two. 

They’ll probably save another £50m+ in wages over the 2 years.

Maybe they’re trying to get him to put in a transfer request so he 1) looks like the bad guy and 2) forfeits his slice of the transfer fee.

Edited September 1, 2023 by Genie

[Zatman]

52 minutes ago, Genie said:

They’ll probably save another £50m+ in wages over the 2 years.

Maybe they’re trying to get him to put in a transfer request so he 1) looks like the bad guy and 2) forfeits his slice of the transfer fee.

I think its what they did to Coutinho and Liverpool fans hate him

[Genie]

23 minutes ago, Zatman said:

I think its what they did to Coutinho and Liverpool fans hate him

Yeah, it’s quite common I think when they know the player is keen and time is running out.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Ramano tweet stating transfer request handed in during this evening.

[Jareth]

I swear there is beef between the saudis and Liverpool, pool have been on the wrong end of so many of the saudi's big moves, and Salah on deadline day smacks of a power play by those dirty arrogant head choppers

[Kuwabatake Sanjuro]

24 minutes ago, Jareth said:

I swear there is beef between the saudis and Liverpool, pool have been on the wrong end of so many of the saudi's big moves, and Salah on deadline day smacks of a power play by those dirty arrogant head choppers

They are doing Liverpool a massive favour by paying a fortune for once great players with too many miles on the clock and massive wages. O

If Liverpool were clever though they would have had our Diaby bought to replace Salah. 

[Jareth]

Just now, Kuwabatake Sanjuro said:

They are doing Liverpool a massive favour by paying a fortune for once great players with too many miles on the clock and massive wages. O

If Liverpool were clever though they would have had our Diaby bought to replace Salah. 

Without Salah this season Liverpool ain't getting top 5, might be some money in their pockets but the Saudis know full well pool's owners will not be reinvesting that money. 

[Zatman]

1 hour ago, Jareth said:

I swear there is beef between the saudis and Liverpool, pool have been on the wrong end of so many of the saudi's big moves, and Salah on deadline day smacks of a power play by those dirty arrogant head choppers

Or the opposite. They are taking Liverpools rejects or unwanted players and paying them off

As much as Salah scores the Liverpool owners hate paying his salary