The Rise of Middle East Teams in the Asian Champions League: Neymar, Ronaldo, and Benzema Shine

The draw for the Asian Champions League has already taken place, an important competition whose central axis is the teams from the Middle East that in recent months have been in charge of adding the best players in the world to their ranks.

The transfer market has moved to the point where the 18 teams from Saudi Arabia have already passed the figure of 800 million euros at the point of incorporations into their teams.

The most expensive have been: Neymar (90), Malcom (60) and Otavio (60), who lead the most exorbitant expenses of the Arab sheikhs for having them in the competition teams.

Neymar Jr. in the middle of the presentation with his new team: Al-Hilal from Saudi Arabia | Photo: AP

The Asian Champions League is currently disputed by 40 teams, from 58 countries that are part of the Asian Football Confederation, which completely excludes Lebanon and North Korea, for political and diplomatic reasons.

Cristiano Ronaldo with Al Nassr. | Photo: REUTERS

Saudi Arabia has four teams in the tournament: Al-Nassr, where the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo plays, Al-Hilal, in which the Brazilian Neymar plays, Al-Ittihad of the Frenchman Karim Benzema and Al-Fayha.

Al-Nassr, with Cristiano Ronaldo, joined this edition of the competition, after being second in last season’s Saudi Pro League and winning the play-off against Shabab Al-Ahli from the UAE.

On the other hand, Neymar Junior’s Al-Hilal is in the championship after being crowned champion of the Saudi Pro League for the 2021/22 season. They are now in Group D, fourth in the West, along with Iran’s Nassaji, India’s Mumbay City and Uzbekistan’s Navbahor.

Benzema’s Al-Ittihad, current champion of the Saudi Pro League and at the same time one of the clubs in Arabia that has been reinforced with great soccer stars to face this season, in the draw ended with Nuno Espirito Santo making part of Group C , third from the West, accompanied by Sepahan from Iran, AGMK from Uzbekistan and Al-Quwa Al-Jawija from Iraq.

As for another impressive one, Al-Fayha, which also registers as a powerful team in the League, although in the transfer market it did not shine by hiring the greatest figures in world football, as its other three rivals did, with an investment of barely 7,500,000 euros: 4.6 million for the Zambian Fashion Sakala, from Rangers. They qualified for this edition of the competition after being crowned with the Copa del Rey de Campeones title in the 2021-22 season, beating Al-Hilal on penalties.

The team will be in Group A, first from the West, with Pajtakor Tashkent from Uzbekistan, Al-Ain from the UAE and Ahlal from Turkmenistan.

These teams will not play against teams from South Korea, China, Japan or Australia because the latter are located exactly on the other side of Asia.

Karim Benzema forward of Al Ittihad greets his team’s fans before the match against Al Raed, in the Saudi League, in Buraidah, Saudi Arabia. Monday, August 14, 2023. (AP Photo) | Photo: AP

The leaders of each group and the six best seconds will pass to the round of 16. The championship began with the preliminary phase, in August, will continue with the group phase, which will begin in September and finally end with the round-trip final, between May 11 and 18, 2024.

2023-08-26 05:21:54
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