Transfer activity from Saudi Arabian clubs, which has taken on an unprecedented scale this summer, can be treated differently. Someone rejoices because the country that has never had stars in world soccer has won a powerful championship in terms of attracting players. Some, on the contrary, say that the situation when players who are still capable of being useful in Europe are sent to deliberate reduction (of course, not in terms of salaries) does not paint the transfer system as a whole.
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One way or another, any employee in our time is free to choose what is more important for him personally – higher salaries or career achievements. And footballers are no exception in this matter. But now in Saudi Arabia, apparently, they swayed, as they say, on the sacred. Various sources report that in the near future the issue of the participation of the strongest club of this Asian country in the European Champions League can be resolved.
The time of miracles has passed
It is possible that such talks are caused solely by the world community’s fear of the unlimited financial possibilities of the rulers of the new order in world football. But if we treat this information as a very specific program of action, several questions arise at once.
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Of course, any of the Saudi clubs that have signed the recent idols of European soccer will probably look more attractive in the Champions League than the conditional Dinamo Zagreb, with all due respect to Croatia’s multiple champions. Yes, and the return to the top flight of Cristiano Ronaldo or Karim Benzema, albeit in such an unusual way, will cause a further increase in viewer interest. But is it really necessary for European football itself?
UEFA officials have repeatedly stated that their main goal is the even development of the game on the continent. The Champions League in its current form, with expanded quotas for the representatives of the strongest championships, is increasingly reminiscent of the Super League for the rich, whose creation was so feared in Nyon. And with the invitation of visiting billionaires from another regional confederation, the success of “small” clubs in the Champions League can be completely forgotten. And this despite the fact that the victories of Crvena Zvezda and Steaua in the main European club tournament are already perceived as an old beautiful fairy tale.
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risk assessment
Such a decision, if it is made in spite of everything, will not become some kind of serious precedent. If we take national team tournaments into account, for several decades the strongest CONCACAF teams have been participating in the Copa América as guests. And UEFA, looking for millions from the Arabian Peninsula, may well use this as an argument in favor of a new idea. But in the end, such an experiment may well end in a split in European football.
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For the conditional ‘Al-Nasr’ or ‘Al-Hilal’, who will play in the Champions League, Inter Miami will inevitably approach, who wants to show Lionel Messi in his club’s jersey to a wider audience. As a result, the main European tournament risks turning into a vanity fair, in which there will be no place at all for a good half of the Old World. So the UEFA president should think more than once or twice before opening this kind of Pandora’s box.
