Neymar or Ronaldo in the Champions League despite leaving Europe? Saudi Arabia wants its clubs in the most prestigious club competition

Saudi Arabia can’t get enough. It drags world-class stars into its football league, the national team there uses a club owned by Saudi owners to sportwash without trying to hide it, and there is now talk of Middle Eastern clubs playing in the European Champions League.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Neymar, Kalidou Koulibaly, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Sadio Mané, Roberto Firmino and the list goes on. Saudi Arabia boasts an interesting quality of players in their league.

More quality footballers are expected to head towards the Middle East in search of good earnings. In short, Saudi Arabia is going all out. Moreover, it is not shy about using Newcastle United for sportwashing, as the English club’s stadium will host two matches of the Saudi national team.

Moreover, the club’s website announced the information in an interesting way, saying that Saudi Arabia is a nation obsessed with football. The low ticket prices should help to sell as many tickets as possible.

To make matters worse, new information began to emerge on Wednesday and Thursday that makes you think. Corriere dello Sport reports that Arab clubs are interested in playing in the European Champions League.

Representatives of Saudi Arabia are seeking to have their clubs play the millionaire competition from the 2024/25 season. Teams there would play the competition thanks to a “wild card”. Participation would be open to the champion of the Saudi Pro League.

Apparently, the structure of the most prestigious club competition would also change as the Arabs want a complete structural overhaul of the Champions League.

If a deal is reached, Ronaldo and co. would be able to play the Champions League again. So far, however, that doesn’t look likely. But it certainly cannot be ruled out.

Source: Corriere dello Sport