Ronaldo stays in the team and can t stand up to the grand vision of the Saudi league

When Ronaldo won the UEFA Champions League for the Portuguese national team, world football once again witnessed the tenacity and immortality of a legendary player.

And after the end of the moment of glory, he made an unexpected decision at the post-match press conference - to stay in Riyadh to win and continue his Saudi league career.

This statement of staying in the team, at the moment when the top stars in the Saudi league are gradually leaving the court and the popularity is cooled down, not only is it a determination of their personal career, but it also means that the "super narrative" in this national sports strategy is still being written.

Pull time back to the end of 2022, Ronaldo officially joined Riyadh to win. At that moment, Saudi Arabia announced to the world through the IP of the world's largest football brand: we want to become a "football center".

The victory of Riyadh almost overnight, from a second-rate Asian team to the focus of world football. Ronaldo is also considered to be the pioneering star of Saudi football's internationalization.

data will not lie. The debut ceremony was broadcast simultaneously on multiple TV stations around the world. With less than a month since Ronaldo joined, the Instagram fans of Riyadh Victory Club rose from 860,000 to 12.5 million. The Saudi League broadcast rights were sold to the European and American markets for the first time. In less than a year, they reached broadcast agreements with more than 130 countries and regions, which was four times the total revenue of the previous season's broadcast rights.

And this is just the beginning - a group of European stars such as Benzema, Mane, Kante, Neymar have successively landed in the Middle East, and the Saudi League has become a super buyer in the transfer market.

During the summer transfer window of 2023, Saudi professional league clubs hit a record $957 million, the first International League has invested more than the European League during the transfer window since 2016.

Source: GOAL

In the official narrative, Ronaldo's joining not only attracted the attention of the league, but was also included in the overall strategy at the national level, becoming a key symbol in the cultural and sports sector of Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030".

Subsequently, Saudi Arabia's strategy accelerated comprehensively: the bidding rights for the 2027 Asian Cup, the 2029 Asian Winter Games, the 2034 Asian Games and even the 2034 World Cup have been successively won by Saudi Arabia.

However, back to the football level, under the glamorous appearance, the competitive performance has not risen with it - so far, the team has not won any results in major events such as the AFC Champions League, the League, and the Saudi Cup of Rey.

Royce and Riyadh won, but they never realized their competitive ideals.

Two and a half years, 105 games, 93 goals - this is a report card that is difficult to define as "superiority" on any player.

But behind Ronaldo's glamorous personal data is the reality that Riyadh's victory record continues to decline.

In the 2022-23 season, the club can still explain that the league was not successful because of the reason that PIF took over the middle of the process; but in the following two seasons, the team did not win the 11 events it participated in, and only won an Arab Champions League that was not recognized by FIFA, with extremely limited gold content.

This problem may not lie in Ronaldo's personal opinion, but in the club's "misposition understanding" of Ronaldo.

Ronaldo achieved 900 goals in his career in Saudi Arabia (including 6 goals in the Arab Champions League) Picture source: GOAL

The Saudi league lacks a mature technical style and tactical system. After the introduction of Ronaldo, Riyadh victory did not systematically build its characteristics: in addition to Ronaldo, the club also introduced midfielders such as Mane, Brozovic, and Otavio, but most of them were too old and the tactical systems they adapted to in the past were significantly different, which led to the obvious insufficient front-field pressure and conversion efficiency of the winning team.

At the same time, knowing that Ronaldo is good at ending, the team has not equipped with corresponding high-level midfield and wing systems. When facing strong teams, they are single in tactics and lack space for response, which is particularly obvious in high-level competitions such as the AFC.

In addition, management's short-sightedness has become a greater hidden danger for the team to repeatedly collapse at critical moments - three coach changes were changed within two years, frequent lineups were reorganized, unstable atmosphere in the team, and even internal strife storms were rumored.

According to Mohamed Duwaish, a well-known Saudi sports commentator, one of the fundamental reasons why Ronaldo was willing to leave the team was that the senior management refused to adopt the constructive opinions he put forward, including hiring coaches with stronger tactical capabilities and strengthening key positions.

In contrast, the other three PIF clubs also face internal management difficulties, but their results conceal some of the contradictions. This not only reflects the inefficiency of Saudi teams in resource allocation, but also reveals their deviation in understanding "superstar = champion".

In other words, the lack of clear talent strategies, tactical stability and medium- and long-term construction logic is the fundamental reason for the continued downturn in Riyadh's victory.

Riyadh won 2-3 against Kawasaki forward in the Asian Champions League semi-finals. Source: Miami International, another superstar team across the ocean, also has similar problems.

After Messi and his friends joined one after another, the attention and business value of the team and the league have been significantly improved, but the "top-heavy" signing idea still makes it difficult for the team to maintain stable performance.

Even though he won the regular season Eastern Conference championship last season, he was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. As a result, the wild card quota he won was considered by many fans as FIFA forcibly "walking".

Ultimately, if a superstar project wants to bring about a real structural leap, the premise is to synchronize the construction of supporting system capabilities. From the youth training system, technical and tactical coaching team, to the stable lineup structure and clear tactical thinking, these are the real "foundation" of a high-level club..

A gamble without organizational structure support will only make the superstar's light shine in the wrong position for a moment and then quickly extinguish.

Miami International lost to Atlanta last season, ending in the first round of the playoffs. Source: ESPN

What is more vigilant is that after the international attention craze initially triggered by the "Superstar Effect" receded, the commercial transformation of the Saudi League began to show structural weakness - currently, the average Saudi League has only more than 8,000 fans to watch the game per game, and the number of spectators in some games is even less than 1,000.

Not only that, although the number of social media fans of the four major PIF teams has achieved explosive growth, the sales of derivative peripheral products have not seen obvious conversions. Most of the increase in brand sponsorship comes from within the Saudi consortium, and the international sponsorship at the attractions have not met expectations.

In other words, even if Ronaldo stays with his contract renewal, Saudi Arabia's local sports resources and market foundation are still not enough to truly accept the global traffic and commercial value represented by top stars such as Ronaldo.

Some Saudi league games have fewer audiences. Picture source: The Athletic

In contrast, the "value leap" brought to MLS by Messi can be realized because of the maturity of the US local sports industry system - whether it is the league operation mechanism, sponsor ecology, fan culture and urban sports consumption power, it provides a good carrying soil for Messi's arrival.

In Saudi Arabia, the personal influence of superstars can easily form a "island effect" and it is difficult to feed back to the overall ecology. The significance of Ronaldo's stay remains important, but without the solid support of the local sports industry, his value in Saudi Arabia is more like a show with continuous high investment but no returns.

Now, Ronaldo has stated that he will continue to stay in the team, and at the same time confirmed that he will not participate in the 2025 Club World Cup, temporarily dispelling all rumors of short-term transfers. This not only continues the "superstar era" of Riyadh's victory, but also means that the Saudi professional league still has the opportunity to repair and improve the overall system under the influence of Ronaldo, and gain time for the next wave of strategic windows.

In fact, as early as when Neymar terminated the contract early and returned to Brazil, some differences had appeared within the Saudi side.

On the one hand, the CEO of Riyadh Crescent and other club executives still firmly believe that introducing superstars is the most direct way to achieve globalization and commercialization of the league; on the other hand, the voices of the Saudi Football Association and the professional league management have gradually turned to caution, emphasizing that "football is not just a star exhibition match."

Saudi football marketing director Baslawi admitted in an interview: "Nemar's coming and going is a reminder - the real future is to grow up with young local players." After all, the Saudi team that defeated Argentina in the 2022 World Cup depends on the local league lineup.

Qatar World Cup, Saudi Arabia beat Argentina Photo source: RNZ

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has continued to promote the construction of youth training systems - including sending U18 and U21 teams to Europe to study abroad, promoting the construction of campus and community football systems, and setting the "U23 appearance rate" goal in professional leagues. A more systematic and structured "local + foreign aid" football ecosystem is gradually taking shape.

Only when "superstar introduction" becomes a tool to promote the growth of local players, mature professional league governance, and take root in the community, this "Saudi football ambition" can become a truly sustainable long-term plan.

But it is worth noting that the external environment is quietly changing, and Saudi Arabia is entering a cycle of macro transformation and resource reconfiguration.

Since 2024, as the global economic environment continues to fluctuate, international crude oil prices have continued to fall, directly impacting Saudi finance, which is backed by energy exports. Saudi Aramco's revenue has continued to decline, and its ability to support national finances is also under real pressure. Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, said that if oil prices continue to fall, the Saudi government may cut spending and increase debt, and the financing prospects of its vision of 2030 will also become more challenging.

In this context, as an important executive in the 2030 vision, PIF (Saudi Public Investment Fund) has to slow down its previous large-scale "spending" in the global sports, entertainment and technology fields, from offense to defense, from radical expansion to refined operations and investment returns.

For this reason, sports IP has become one of the few "high certainty and predictable" security assets. In particular, Ronaldo, as the only super symbol that still has global influence and can stably drive sponsorship, broadcasting and viewing popularity, may also become a key bargaining chip that Saudi Arabia has to continue to "retain". NEOM construction in the 2030 vision of NEOM has stalled. Source: Bloomberg

In a sense, this has actually enhanced Ronaldo's negotiation value and voice. Whether it is renewing the contract with better treatment, gaining greater participation, or assisting in building a future commercial framework and team core style, Ronaldo may win a higher strategic position and voice in the next stage.

For Ronaldo, the considerations behind the contract renewal are not entirely re-bets on the Saudi league. This is more like a strategic rest around his own career life cycle - this is a choice more out of his personal career management than a vote of confidence in the future of Saudi football.

However, Ronaldo's joining has obviously been worth the investment at the Saudi national level. After many major competitions have been confirmed one after another, the 2030 vision is steadily advancing. The international exposure, cultural symbols and commercial increase brought by its personal IP provides realistic support for Saudi Arabia to build a new national narrative of "modernization, diversification and internationalization"..

Sports facilities and cultural and tourism resources in core cities such as Riyadh and Jeddah are also being upgraded simultaneously. Large stadiums, fan communities, and commercial complexes are rapidly being implemented, and an urban cluster built around the "global event destination" is taking shape.

Riyadh designed the stadium for the 2034 World Cup finals. Source: ArchDaily

Looking back, Ronaldo's joining is like a golden exhibition match; and after the final whistle, the lights are extinguished, which is another more difficult but more important game.

As this story reveals: the future of football has never been changed by one person, but by a league, a system, and a country. It really calms down and breaks out inch by inch.