There is actually no ban on playing for foreign clubs. That, and Saudi players aren't as well payed as people expect.
Thanks for the various comments: -- There are a few examples of Saudi players playing abroad and plenty of examples of Saudi players wanting to and having opportunity, but not being able to act on that -- the discussion on conservative would go far here to take up in length but to say that the conservatives in the kingdom are not one homogeneous group -- i was not referring to physical infrastructure -- yes i have been travelling to the kingdom since the 1970s and have lived there -- finally, despite FIFA government control of institutional soccer is the norm, not the exception across the Middle East I blog about all of this regularly at The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer
We've had very long discussions on why this situation is like this concerning Saudi players not playing in Europe and the end result of those discussions is this:
i am not saying that they are good or bad , i am just telling you they love football they play football with us , they organize amateurs leagues btw football matches times and prayer times are different they are at least 1 hour apart , and i have never seen them block coffee shops because they broadcast a match . football is loved here we got about 200 pro clubs registered on the FA and thousands of amateur clubs .< that is not physical infrastructure finally many saudi players played outside the kingdom fahad al ghyshyan , sami ,fuad anwar , malek muath , fahad al muhlal , hussien abdulganni , ahmed al dokhi and those are only the ones that i know . tbh the ones who are fighting football in saudi arabia are TV stations u need to pay thousands of SRs to watch the local league , the UEFA champions leauges , the pl , the calcion , the la liga or WC . they also monopolize the broadcast u cant watch the matches online u cant watch the matches on a coffee shop thats why the clubs opened a channel called line sport to broadcast the local league
I appreciate what you are saying and know that Saudis are soccer-crazy. I also know that the game is widely played and that mosques inside and outside the kingdom often have affiliated mostly amateur teams. Pay TV for soccer has become globally a fact of life, its big business. All of this does not distract from structural issues. In the case of Saudis playing for foreign clubs, yes there are a number of examples and the ban is not formal, but fact is its not encouraged in Saudi and players are unfortunately often discouraged.
By who? The FA? The Clubs? The Agents? That's true but in the Arab World it's reached ridiculous proportions. We were the only region not to have all the World Cup matches broadcast for free.
There is rairly few deals for agent players. Saudi players, espicially stars have inflated contracts, and will not leave to play in Europe for one season unless if he gets a million dollar. Now how many European clubs are willing to pay that much for a Saudi player. Very few, I'd consider it a very bad deal for the European club.
I think that is very true and was mentioned indeed in the Arab News editorial I quoted. Its short-term good for the players but not necessarily good for Saudi football.
from goal.com steaua bucharest the Romanian club is interested on naif hazzazi and they want to get him i will post my thoughts about that : ittihad will hinder this .
From his website- هزازي مطلوب في ستيوا بوخارست أنور الغامدي - جدة كشف موقع سبورت الروماني أن المدرب كوزمين أولاريو والذي سبق وعمل كمدرب في ناديي الهلال والسد القطري يرغب في نقل خدمات مهاجم نادي الاتحاد والمنتخب السعودي الشاب نايف هزازي لنادي ستيوا بوخارست. وقد أعلن رئيس النادي جيجي بيكالي مساء أمس بأنه سيحاول جلب هزازي عبر كوزمين كبديل للروماني بودان ستانكو والذي أعلن انتقاله رسميا في الأيام الماضية لنادي غلطة سراي التركي. وكان بيكالي قد قال لوسائل الإعلام «كل ما أستطيع قوله إنه شاب يبلغ من العمر 22عاماً، عربي ويلعب في دوري الدرجة الأولى. وسيأتيني الجواب الحاسم في الغد إن كان موافق أو لا، والأمر يتوقف على المال فقط نظرا لأن هزازي اشترط مبلغا كبيرا. وسيكون العقد إعارة لمدة 6 شهور إن تمت الموافقة». وقد صرح بعض المسئولين من نادي ستيوا بوخارست بأن الرئيس بيكالي يشير للاعب الاتحاد نايف هزازي والذي يبلغ من العمر 22 عاماً ويحتل المركز الثاني في ترتيب الهدافين مسجلا 10 أهداف من 13 مباراة. ويعتبر من أفضل المهاجمين في السعودية عند منطقة الجزاء. يذكر أن هزازي قد وقع عقدا احترافيا مع ناديه الاتحاد لمدة 4 سنوات.
No they don't. Yaser Al Qahtani is payed only 360'000 dollars per year or about 6000$ per week. The premier League for example, on average pays about 1.08 million dollars a year. And that's WITHOUT perfomance based bonuses which can double the wage bill. The highest paid Saudi player by far is Mohammed Noor, with 1.23 million dollars per year. Clearly going to Europe is far more profitable. Hell, being the first Saudi player to succeed in Europe will get you endorsements from every major Saudi company that will basically triple your wage.
A general question-Why does Ahli have a Saudi emblem in there logo.There are no other culbs in Saudi league who have a Saudi emblem in there logo
al-Ahli means "the national". Plus they were effectively created by the al-Faisals (they re-founded the old Thaghar team), during the days of king Faisal! Is the picture clear?
BTW, Al Wehda has opened it's youth academy at the old Fayha stadium in Mecca. If you know any kids who are good at footy, then move to Mecca and enroll them there.
A good news after a long time.Real Madrid to build a soccer academy in Riyadh in partnership wwith Prince Salman Foundation. http://www.goal.com/en/news/12/spai...adrid-to-build-sports-academy-in-saudi-arabia