Saudi Arabian football clubs Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal squared off in the King’s Cup, the championship of the Saudi Professional League, in the United Kingdom to the delight of Saudi nationals in the UK.
The UK print and online newspaper The Guardian noted that while the quality of the game may not have compared to the English Premier League gold standard, it was greatly appreciated by the expatriate fans of the league and might even start a new trend for Saudi football abroad.
The Saudi Professional League.
“Al-Nassr versus Al-Hilal in the Saudi Super Cup did not quite produce a spectacle worthy of admission to the pantheon of special moments here down through the years, but what it did provide was a knowing nod to the fact that the globalization of football shows no signs of abating.”
“Scouts, of which there were a handful from English teams, are unlikely to have been too impressed, but a deficit of technical ability was offset by an entertaining, energy-sapping tussle between local rivals and two of Saudi Arabia’s three most successful teams.”
Soccer is the most popular sport in Saudi Arabia, and the King’s Cup championship is regularly attended by the Saudi Royal Family, including the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.
The Guardian provides an overview of the match and how it came to be played in the United Kingdom for the first time.
