Saudi Pro League hits another laughable low with tiny crowds three days in a row
by 
The Saudi Arabian Pro League was struck down by abysmal attendances yet again.
Last summer, the football world was put on notice when the likes of Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Kalidou Koulibaly and many more followed the money to the Middle Eastern kingdom. While fans love to fill the stands to watch the European stars of yesteryear and Cristiano Ronaldo, the sides with the less glamorous names struggle to entice supporters in.
On several occasions, many games have seen attendances attract significantly fewer than non-league matches in this country. Over the last three days, their familiar struggles came back to haunt them again.
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Things looked bleak on Friday 23 February when Al-Riyadh, who boast names such as former Burnley ace Andre Gray and ex-Sunderland midfielder Didier Ndong, drew 1-1 with Al-Raed in front of just 282 people. Things improved slightly on the Saturday when Al-Hazem and Al-Khaleej also played out a 1-1 draw in front of 695.
On the Sunday, Al-Feiha’s 3-1 victory over Abha was only watched by 840. There are often larger crowds at non-league matches across the United Kingdom. It is a familiar problem for the mega rich football division.
Doncaster City, who play in the eleventh tier of English football, recently had a home attendance of 880 – more than any of the above mentioned three fixtures.
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In the previous weekend, only 355 people showed up to watch relegation candidates Al-Hazem take on Al-Fayha. It’s not a good look for a country who is aspiring to host the 2034 World Cup.
In a previous interview with the BBC, Saudi Arabian sports minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal tried to brush off the low attendances by saying they are still early in the process. “It’s building blocks… I’m sure that next year we’ll have more attendance,” he said.
“Like anywhere in the world there’s some matches that attract much more audience than others, but all of our big matches have attracted record numbers so far… we’re broadcasting to 147 countries around the world.
“When we planned to develop the league we never thought that we would do it with such pace, but to see that is actually refreshing and it actually showcases the importance of this. Our focus is to develop our league to attract the best in the world.”
