Saudi Pro League league standings leader, Al-Hilal, just notched it’s 28th straight win to break the world record for most consecutive wins by a top-flight team.
Al-Hilal’s streak includes includes 16 games in the Saudi league, three in the domestic cup and nine in the Asian Champions League. It surpasses the previous record set in 2016 by Welsh side The New Saints.
Al-Hilal is led by former Fulham forward Aleksandar Mitrovic and Ex-Wolves midfielder Ruben Neves. Both were part of a $380 million spend by Al-Hilal during the recent transfer window.
Reporting for Bloomberg, Fahad Abuljadayel, writes that the Saudi Professional League’s enormous spend of $875.4 million during last season’s transfer window is unlikely to be repeated in the upcoming transfer window. “Saudi Arabia’s football clubs will not repeat their footballing spending spree this summer, after the Kingdom made plans to reduce losses and build a more sustainable domestic transfer market. Saudi clubs were allocated a three-year budget last summer by the state’s sovereign wealth fund, and there are no plans in place yet to increase this allocation, according to Carlo Nohra, Chief Operating Officer of the Saudi Pro League.”
The new stars helped the Saudi league secure broadcasting deals for its games in more than 130 territories, at rates four times higher than those for the previous season.
However, local attendance has lagged with average attendance for the 2023-24 season 8,321 so far, down about 10% from the prior season.
Nohra considers the stadium facilities as a “major contributing factor” behind the lack of spectators to the games. “Making consumer experience a better experience is part of the transformation strategy, but nothing is going to change overnight, especially with the kind of facilities we have at the moment,” he said.
Saudi Arabia is building several new stadiums and has been selected to host the AFC Asian cup in 2027. The country is expected to host the 2034 World Cup, which will require it to have at least 14 stadiums with a capacity exceeding 40,000 seats. So far, only two grounds meet this criteria.
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