While Cristiano Ronaldo is already evolving in Saudi Arabia, the Golden Balls Lionel Messi and Karim Benzema are announced in the Gulf. “There is a desire to show that this championship wants to be competitive”, deciphers Jean-Baptiste Guégan, specialist in the geopolitics of sport.
Has Saudi Arabia become the new Eldorado of football? “We will have to reckon with them”, assures Monday, June 5 on franceinfo Jean-Baptiste Guégan, specialist in the geopolitics of sport. After Cristiano Ronaldo who joined the Al Nassr club, the two football stars Karim Benzema and Lionel Messi are announced with more and more insistence in the Gulf. “Today, we can no longer take stock of football without looking at what is happening in the Gulf”, assures Jean-Baptiste Guégan. He praises the strong potential of Saudi Arabia which was the only national team to beat Argentina at the World Cup in Qatar. “We have more than 30 million Saudis and 60% are under 30”he pointed out.
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franceinfo: Can we draw a parallel with the United States and the arrival of Pelé and Beckenbauer in the late 1970s?
Jean-Baptiste Guegan: It’s interesting to do it because behind, there is the desire to show that this championship exists. There is also the desire to show that this championship wants to be competitive. For Saudi Arabia, it’s also interesting and that’s the difference with the United States, it’s that you’re going to potentially have three Golden Balls in the championship, that never happened. Saudi Arabia has only seen Hristo Stoitchkov on its soil for a few matches. We are on a desire to weigh both internationally, to make it the first championship in Asia and the Gulf, of course, and at the same time to satisfy the local population, something that we often forget.
The objective is political, but also sporting?
The ambition is also that the club that will win the Asian Champions League can then participate in the club world championship and finally pass the obstacle of the semi-finals, to win the supreme title against the big European teams. . This is also why these Golden Balls go there. They may be the first Ballon d’Or to win both the European and Asian Champions League. There is also a sporting dimension that we forget.
The success of the World Cup in Qatar and the victory of Saudi Arabia against Argentina created a dynamic?
It was already underway long before the World Cup. On the other hand, it came to confirm the weight of football and its ability to mobilize both Saudis and external players. All the signals were green to accelerate further.
“There are other players who can come. We are thinking of Ramos, in particular, the PSG defender”
Jean-Baptiste Guégan, specialist in the geopolitics of sportat franceinfo
Is it a desire to move the center of football from Europe to Asia?
We see that Saudi Arabia, along with Qatar and the Emirates, are beginning to shift the center of gravity of football. Today, it is not measured in terms of performance. But we saw with the World Cup in Qatar that today the money was there. We see them investing in club networks. We see Qatar and Saudi Arabia which are in the process of developing this type of timeshare structure. Today, we can no longer make an inventory of football without looking at what is happening in the Gulf and, today, what Saudi Arabia is doing.
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Others have tried before, such as the United States and China, but without much success. Is the challenge great for Saudi Arabia?
We will see in time. Six months ago, no one knew about the Al-Nassr club [où évolue Cristiano Ronaldo]. Today, everyone is talking about it. Al-Ittihad Club [où est annoncé Karim Benzema], no one was talking about it. Today, we come back to it. We have never talked so much about Saudi Arabia and football where before, we talked mainly about Qatar. This is already a first success. Afterwards, for the level, we could see that Saudi Arabia, when it was well coached and prepared, was capable of competing. They are the only team that has been able to beat Argentina [à la Coupe du monde 2022]. That does not mean that in the long term, it will last, far from it. But today, we have a real desire to structure. And then there is a population behind. It is not Qatar with its 300,000 nationals. There are more than 30 million Saudis and 60% are under 30 years old. You will have to reckon with them.