Giorgio Marota Tuesday 15 August 2023, 3.02 pm
SENT TO JEDDA – Rumors chase each other in the headquarters of the Arab Football Federation in Riyadh and in the offices where the managers of the most important clubs in the country work, those controlled directly by the royal family and in particular by the Pif, the public investment fund: Arabs want to play in the European Champions League. They already have two international competitions of absolute prestige such as the Arab Cup which is held in the summer (won a few days ago by Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr) and the traditional Asian Champions League, but the sheikhs would also have targeted the maximum competition from the old continent.
In the coming months, they could formulate a very precise request to UEFA: have a “wild card” to access the new tournament formula in the 2024-25 season (no longer 8 groups, but a single group with 36 formations like a real championship, with 8 matches each for each team before the knockout stage), dedicated to the winning team Saudi Pro League. This would allow clubs such as Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli of Jeddah or Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal of Riyadh to acquire even more international prestige, compete against the best clubs of the old continent and to grow the experience and skills of clubs which, despite the large amount of money invested in players and infrastructure, still appear rather behind in terms of corporate organisation. The Champions in the sights, another goal that Arab football sets itself to become an absolute point of reference on a global scale.
Corriere dello Sport by subscription
Together for passion, choose how
Subscribe to the digital edition of the newspaper. Matches, stories, insights, interviews, comments, columns, rankings, tables, formations, previews.
Always with you, as you want
2023-08-15 13:02:10
#Sensational #Arabs #play #Champions #League