@ZealandonYT Note: "Al Wahda Club is considered the oldest club founded in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in 1916, based on what some historians in the Saudi sports media have confirmed." The club was founded in Mecca in 1916. The government only acknowledged the club's founding when they joined the ministry of sports in 1945. It was first founded in 1916 under the name "Al-Mukhtalit," which means Mixed. Later, it was known as "Nadi Al-Hizb," which means The Party Club, and then Al-Wahda, until 1945, when it was officially recognized as a sports club with the General Administration of Sports and Scouting.
Great data bro! That´s why i love FM, it gave us the chance to know better about countries and clubs around the world! Greetings from Bolivia! I´m a Club Bolivar fan!
@@tylerclayton608195% of football fans in the country support the top 4 clubs. Same concept as Egypt and Scotland. Having football passion does not equal strong attendances. The MLS has a higher average attendance than many leagues but it doesnt mean the US is a football passionate country. Australia has a higher average attendance than most Balkan Leagues but football is not even a top 2 sport there
Watching it while going home from a party at 3am after 26 shots of different stuff and itd the highlight of the night bc zeeland spittin facts and makes it so easy to enjoy and understand
I love this format of videos I think you should incorporate these in more but then we wouldn't get to see so much of your livestreams, as time constraints. But when you do these you do them so well!
I was, in fact, honestly avoiding everything to do with the Saudi Pro League out of principle and disgust. But I knew a @ZealandonYT video would be fair and well researched, and I was not disappointed. Thank you for taking the time and effort to cover this!
Why? Isn't premier league donig the same thing since the 90's? they've driven player fees up, agents fees up, wages are at an all time high. shit players are bought and sold for 20-30mill. how can any club outside the top 5 compete with those prices? And isn't premier league also stealing young kids from other clubs? All the same as saudi league... Also if european clubs are against muslim money they shoulld stop taking money from muslim sponsors. muslim money is bad when they buy players but when u get muslim money from sponsors its okay... very hypocritial.
@malconsak Yeah. And he talks about that. Doesn't change the problems with sports-washing, the unfairness of throwing unfathomable amounts of money at players, and the level of egocentric greed by the players leaving for the league under the tissue thin guise of "spreading the sport". I'm likewise bothered by MLS's disregard for the US Open Cup in their pursuit of fatter wallets. That doesn't mean US fans aren't passionate or even that I think such a thing. Given the clearly divisive nature of the situation, most sources on the SPL are incredibly biased one way or the other. Therefore, I appreciate hearing information from someone that I know executes quality research and has a track record for fair and unbiased commentary.
@mosaabtwice3999 dude you are just swinging wildly and without foundation. You aren't here for a conversation, you just want to fight. This isn't how you make a point, this is how you lose people. If you really care about this, calm down and show me what's wrong with what I said and stop beating a strawman with a baseball bat.
If you're interested in football history in the Middle East, there's a lovely short film called Maradona's Legs, set in Palestine during the 1990 World Cup, about some kids following along and trying to collect stickers for a football album. It's on Netflix UK and (I believe) US and a few other Anglophone countries
How you managed to miss Saeed Owairan scoring the goal of the tournament at the '94 world cup against Belgium? I think since then they might be the only national team to get knocked out with no points or goals scored twice. By the way Al Nasser should be pronounced An Nasser otherwise a fascinating look into a league I saw on tv when growing up.
@@swat2788 If the Saudi League teams were indeed successful, they wouldn't need to give the players 10 times the money they were going to get anywhere else...
@@The_Guy_You_Love_To_Hate Oh yeah so The US didnt just get Messi. And the UK didnt get other players from outside. Keep yapping bud. Its about management and getting good players not national players necessarily. If u want that watch the World Cup and Asia Cup
Hi Zealand I moved to Saudi Arabia 1 month ago from the UK. My closest club is Steven Gerrards Al Ettifaq and from the compound I am on there are quite a few that go to games, I will be going as well, so if you ever fancy coming here, I would love to help you out :-)
FYI, the Saudis didn't have control over Hijaz (Mecca, Jeddah) till the 1930s. At the time they played football in that region, it was ruled by the Hashimi King Hussain (currently ruling family of Jordan) The first club established in Jeddah was Al Ittihad (United or Union) the club was merger between 2 clubs in Jeddah because the ritch kids had a club but the working class weren't allowed to join them so established their own club. They had a meeting between the club owners and decided to have a match, if the working class club won they would be able to join the Rich club. The workers won and established the new club Al Ittihad .
@otaieb48 because they are win everything 90% of the time... There isn't an official source for the history sadly. Only snippets fro. Old news papers and club websites. The Saudi FA is currently working with a committee to officially document the entire history of it.
If Saudi's were smart they would invest that money into National Player Development Academies and Teams, instead of just buying other teams and old expensive players.
They are working on it and don't forget that Saudi Arabia is in the Middle East, the region with the most wars and many policies that distract the ruling family from development. This is the goal of some countries without mentioning names. Don't worry about Saudi Arabia, they are really smart. Just as they turned the desert into skyscrapers, they are capable of doing more and the matter is not related to oil. Venezuela has more oil than Saudi Arabia. However, there are huge differences between the two countries.
The league is literally at its Zenith at the moment, it can only go downward. I think because of the lack of passion for their local clubs, with like 99% of people following 3 clubs
There are 5 big clubs with millions of fan base in Saudi Arabia: Alnassr, Alhilal, Alitihad, Alahli, AlShabab. Many other clubs had huge fans in the past such as Alitifah. The passion has been there since the beginning, if you could search on youtube a game in 1994 between Alnassr and Alhilal and see the fans search: النصر Vs الهلال (1-0) المربع الذهبي دوري 1994م | مباراة كامله
I went to an Ettifaq vs Hilal game a couple of years ago & despite being the away team, Hilal had more than half the stands with the green Ettifaq supporters not even reaching a third.
@@ecstasycalculusbut Chinese football can become huge easily, Saudi Arabian will not. Its just a gsme of numbers. They have a population similar to Poland, which national league is barely relevant despite being its nr 1 sport, but with 7x its size km2. Theres simply no market for such huge players to play there and make bazillion dollars a month and be even remotely profitable. And a national league HAS TO have national audience, as international fans might watch a game or two on TV but if its not top 5 international league skillwise they will drop it as soon as the hype dies out. Seems like Saudi prinxes just wanted to flex their money getting big players with no hope of long team popularity, or they were just clueless qith their investment, but thats what happens when you have a country rulled by an absolute king and his princes and extended family is so rich they xan just decide to hire biggest sport stars on earth with 0% chance of making the money back, just because they can...
Hello im from Saudi and we actually love this sport its the sport of or country and what we do is the same as Europe I don’t think that’s football is only for Europe, and they only can spend money. We genuinely love the sport. And thanks to the vision 2030 and MBS we now can live our dreams🇸🇦🔝. Thank u for ur video 🤍
10:53 it’s a tongue twister in English only but in Arabic when we say it IN ARABIC it’s actually really simple and it has a deeper meaning beyond football that’s it’s hard to explain
There was couple of small errors but in general the video is a masterpiece i wished that you would talk about the top teams and i don't mean only the top 4 but the teams who surprised all of us in Saudi either nowadays or in the past and wished you talked a little bit more about the whole project of making all Saudi tams owned by companies But thanks for this dive to our beloved league
Great video but not very accurate. For example the 8 foreign players rule has been in place since 2018 and was reduced to 7 then the club members voted to take it back to 8 again. Also i need to point out that saudi league has been the best league in Asia since 2004 ahead of japan, australia, south korea and others.
Z to the Ealand, never apologize for bringing in some history. I prefer it over adding more memes. One slight annoyance: The background music (again), I prefer none but if you must have it: please, let it take a proper backseat (aka turn the volume down). Your material is good enough to grab and hold the attention, no need to pad it with music. (I did lie though, its a major annoyance not a slight one :P)
@@ZealandonYT in the video you said its an American company, and that’s highly malicious misleading statement. You are misleading the viewers to Aramco present success is due to Americans. And that’s totally wrong, yes we the Saudis have bought it when it was NOTHING and WE have made it the third BIGGEST company in the world TODAY, we made the company’s success not the Americans. Highly malicious misleading statement, and I’m not at all surprised typical American behavior.
@@ZealandonYTI like how you left all delusional comments and came to this. Wait till 2034 and you will see what developments will happen there. Sick youtube videos
@@swat2788 Whether you like it or not, it is true. And no need to wait till 2034, you can already see the great developmental rate which surpasses many major european nations and most definitely the fallen united states. The future is Saudi 🇸🇦
Very informative. Still an irrelevant, sportswashing money league which no matter who they sign to their league will still remain irrelevant in the eyes of a normal football fan
Thank you for this Zealand. This is a great video and I appreciate you doing your research about a league I have followed religiously long before its current fame. But, I realised something. Fans complain too much about how Saudi is using money to make a better league. But almost no one watches football leagues around the world because the football is good or interesting. Most are stuck to the Premier League, which literally did the same thing Saudi is doing right now: bringing in the best players. I think it says more about football fans complaining about Saudi football, that eventually end up watching Saudi football because of players they know, than Saudi football being “a bad league”. I mean, they’re using a format that is clearly the best way to garner attention, but neeeds to be implemented correctly to succeed long-term. Point is, if you’re going to talk about how pure football should be, watch the Brazilian league - the most interesting title and relegation race in 2023. Follow the Moroccan League, filled with talented players and some of the best fans in the world. Follow the Dutch or Portuguese League, competitions that give the Premier League its best talents and have interesting seasons from time to time. the Saudi League (like the Chinese League) is just an easy target to criticise. But if the league successfully implements its project and has some of the best teams in the world, people will watch it. No one is going to watch it because of a “great grassroots system and wonderful local talent”
I'd just like to say that as a life-long Newcastle United fan, the people you showed waving the Saudi flag in the stadium do not represent me nor the wider fanbase. I'm a season ticket holder and in contrary to what you implied, that is not a regular sight on match day. Our celebrations are in line with our love for our team and a club that we lost hope of being successful a long time ago, not for those that currently own it. Great video btw.
You could just organise with other fans and demand your clubs owners to be expripriated but in fact English football fans lost the fight a long time ago against the capitalist because most of them are little "...." Its harsh but true. I cant even imagine being a English football club fan nowadays. Its the most loser-like thing I can imagine.
The only but at the same time the most important piece SA is missing in their football is culture. Recently, there was published a video about football in the Faroe Islands by Zealand, and he said that semi-professional football inside that place felt more real than fully professional one in the top leagues. Not only do I agree with that, but it brings an important reason, why even with these enormous spendings SA will never make it as a respectable country in football. Culture makes the country to produce talents, money comes only after talent becomes a legend. And with no talents, SA is left to spend huge quantities of money on legends. It can bring the iron fans of these legends but will never bring the fans of culture, and, consequently, of the game itself.
I don't quite agree with your point. Well, the part about the enormous spending, I don't think you're wrong, but the part about football culture in Saudi. For decades, football has been the only runaway from life for many youngsters and adults, it's rooted in most families, and it has passed on for generations. Also, many footballers back in the day used to be Semi-professional, and didn't play football as their main source of income, that's until the beginning of 2000s. Using Faroe Islands as an example of football culture is not wrong, but what I think made you think Faroe is a good example is because they are European. There has been many examples where a small club from a small city in SA wins the league of the cup, or even the arabian gulf championship, such as Al-Fateh from Al-Ahsa back in 2012. The contrast between the these two examples are, when you hear news about a Saudi club succeeding while being the underdog of something, most wouldn't care. Unlike any European, or even East Asian club, where people will praise it and view it a sign of "Football culture".
@@ibra5760 I am not talking about underdogs winning something, I am talking about culture. Underdogs sometimes win something everywhere, not only on Faroe or in SA. The minimum time football match requires you to spend on it with you being at the stadium is 90 mins. Highlights are max 10-20 mins depending on the match intensity. There has to be something which would challenge you to sit there with your favourite team for another 70 mins without wanting to leave or thinking about this time as spent wrong. Hence, I am talking about something which WILL make you feel about these 70 mins as spent right. May it be the fact that among the players is your friend or the friend of your friend, or you just enjoy hanging out with other people watching different people to kick the ball - name it as you want, but this is what is called culture. This has nothing to do with being "European", it is more about how people tend to spend their free time. More to the point: www.essentiallysports.com/soccer-football-news-despite-cristiano-ronaldo-neymars-move-seats-empty-in-saudi-pro-league-as-they-fail-to-fill-stadiums/ They fail to fill the stadiums even with all these stars because people just do not understand, what to watch there.
Dude as a Saudi please, please, please do NOT speak on us at all when it comes to football cuz yall don't know shit honestly and it piss me off. I assure you Saudi are obsessed with the sport and ppl play it in the streets literally. We have street and school leagues. We have so many talents in the streets and throughout history, the reason you don't see them playing in Europe bc they get paid alot of money here so they would rather stay close to their families, not bc lack of talents. Btw my club (al ittihad) averaged 40k attendance last season.. this season the sports ministry took our stadium to do a little bit of work on it for the club wc that happened this month so we had to play in a stadium that has a capacity of 25k, we still averaged 23k. We're returning to our 50k stadium in January... in general the big 5 club have good attendance average, the others not so much, but have potentials and there's reasons why they don't have that much.... 1st: We're still building the infrastructure for these clubs, meaning the small clubs have really bad stadiums and that's why alot of ppl in other cities don't attend as much as the others bc the game experience is really poor.. 2nd: alot of ppl complain about heat in the summer which mean we need stadiums that can have AC... so MOST of the problems is about the stadiums environment. And we're working on them.. 3rd: we're not like England in the sense that ALL teams can full their stadiums and there's no shame in that. We're not the only country.. but overall the small teams have crowds just need to work on infrastructure and make the people believe in their teams in the other towns other than the big 5 in big cities. So you saying that we don't "understand what's there to watch" is completely ignorant and not true and it's honestly offensive cuz I guarantee you there are young people in Saudi that are more PASSIONATE about the sport than you and more talented on the field. People just won't give them a chance.. but it doesn't matter cuz they're adding fuel to the fire that will explode in the next decade. 2022 wc was just a very small taste to whats to come. Btw to finish this off we have a BIG academy called mahd academy that will help create the next generation in all sports especially football. They excepted kids born in 2007 and up. Also a school leagues.. So we care about our youth too.
Mate they won more than 4 AFC Asian cups and a lot of their clubs have won the champions League and the people their are obsessed with football. What more culture do you want ?
11:45 Fun fact 😂😂😂😂😂 Al ahil football club (who got relegated last season) is actually one of the big clubs of Saudi Arabia but they didn't win the league in its new format NEVER acutely there 3rd league title win EVER was in 2016 lol.
This is probably exactly how Uruguayans felt about the English Premier League 50-60 years ago when they were a football powerhouse and English football was mid. However, it turns out, money changes a lot of things.
@@giannis.ioannidis.1995 dude english football was never mid. National team was not mid it was super bad. But football as a hole has been huge since then. 60 years ago bobby charlton was already playing… so… what you on about??
A country who's human rights record is only comparible to North korea having such a large presence in football genuinly makes me question whether I can keep following it Newcastle fans waving a flag of a regime that executes children, gay people and journalists genuinly sickens me That they will passionately defend the government of Saudi Arabia because it bought them Alexander isak is genuinly disturbing
Those governments aren't directly involved in their countries professional football, indeed FIFA demands independence for individual countries football associations (see Belize being disqualified from World Cup qualification in 2011), but they are using PIF as a convenient smokescreen to let them turn a blind eye to Saudi Arabia. As an absolute monarchy (one of only a handful in the entire world), Saudi Arabia can at any time, tell it's clubs anything it likes, and FIFA has to put up or shut up, and the cash helps them shut up.
@@samamv9893 In a world, where people know how the worst defense is to just throw around whataboutisms, you literally start your reply with "What about..."? How is anyone supposed to take you serious?
0:15 Well, i have a problem with that quote because non of this has actually happened (and its doubtable they will have a lasting effect before someone stops being willing putting those sums of money into it). They have spend alot of money but there is no sporting success and certainly no gained political legitamacy. Saudia Arabia is way more able to sportwash them with basically any other sport they invite than with football. Them paying F1 or WWE is indefinetly more accepted than them paying CR7.
I think most Westerners (including myself), have no interest in Saudi football and regardless of what superstars go over there, will continue to consume the product that our domestic leagues and European competitions provide. That said, I don't think that we are the Saudi's targeted demographic. The African and Asian markets follow the stars and clearly, bringing in such stars is on the agenda. These markets are for the taking. Can't see the league rivaling Europe anytime soon, but who knows? Infinite money can be useful for sportwashing endeavors
What sportwashing? Saudi Arabia does not need washing like the west's full of blood hands.. SA is a country of peace and has not been in many conflicts and have actually been a huge moderator in many global and regional conflicts.. educate yourself if you are a truth seeker or go f yourself if you have agenda against my nation
That's what as a Saudi i been saying! The arab people (400M) have always watched the Saudi League and supported its big clubs its just that we want to spread it to the rest of Asia, Africa and South America alot of people and channels there and watching it now.. also Europe one day who knows.. we're definitely not there yet but we're always going to keep improving the league (infrastructure, youth & academies, the big clubs trademarks and popularity world wide, tv rights and the TALENTS playing here). Saudi people are very passionate about the game.. and we're only going to improve.. people should like that the game is growing around the world. 😅
Did you know that there was a football club in artica in 1898 snd ppl kicked a stone from on side to the other. Now there is a billionaire king. Anyway, this country has a big football culture.
as an al-ahli fan, I am really upset he didn't mention the club although we won the King's Cup 13 times and the Saudi Pro League 3 times, we were the only club to win a treble in a season in the history of Saudi football, and many other significant achievements in Saudi sports in general
We just need global ffp to save football. But I guess the stars play there a few years until they get to know the country and get bored to play in front of tens if not hundreds of people. Just like it went in China.
Something is not right when you have a full sentence for a name. They need nicknames badly. Even abbreviations would be too long. Imagine prononucing that cup dude's name. Could they not just shorten it to Jeff and be done with it? At least for the public. Jeff Cup. There you go. Sounds better already.
Honeslty as a Saudi, i am happy and proud for the future of my saudi arabia football! and to those dummies and crybabies that keeps calling our league "superficial" and "Fake" dude... just grow up and or keep crying about it, there IS afuture for our football and its league and no matter how many times the western crybabies would yell at us with "fake and superficial" we will keep going and keep this future no matter what.. so keep crying about it
they spoke about human rights imagine?! they are totally forgot Hiroshima + Nagasaki + Iraq + Afghan + everywhere else....... this is how blind they're. but why bother with those innocents anyway!!!!!! human rights my Azz.
w8 w8 w8 , did we just enter a new era of content on ur channel? i like it ! i got a question: next week u will be the ceo of Fifa. yeah u . imagine u could change one thing. u can add or change one law. what rule or specification would u implement ? in other words what would u change about european football ?
Anyone from Saudi Arabia here ? Since we helped you against the ottomans Do you have good opinions on the British? Or do you hate us like most other countries 😂
In general, we like UK and US. However, the issue is, we are in a primitive region, and we have lots of resources 😂. And this situation has created tensions. I will try and explain it in the most simple way. There is a global group that doesn’t want the west to ally with Saudi and benefit from resources and are fueling hate in the region against the west, and saudis are being peer pressured 😂. That same group are inflaming the west’s public and political opinion against Saudi….I can go on for ever…
Saudi here. Imma be honest, I don't like alot of the British arrogance that I see from "some" people. Nor the dry humor 🙂 BUT nonetheless, we're very friendly people and if you respect us and don't try to belittle us, we're cool with everyone!
For as much as I love your typical FM videos, THIS kind of content is *chef's kiss*
More please and thank you!
i agree 😀
It's wildly inaccurate
No. He should not even cover it. He should ignore it. You should ignore it. And you should despise CR7 for joining it.
@@empirelee7676 ffs I meant the style of video, not the particular topic. But thanks for telling people how to live their lives...
This is a great way to introduce your other passion in the channel. History.
@ZealandonYT Note: "Al Wahda Club is considered the oldest club founded in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in 1916, based on what some historians in the Saudi sports media have confirmed." The club was founded in Mecca in 1916. The government only acknowledged the club's founding when they joined the ministry of sports in 1945. It was first founded in 1916 under the name "Al-Mukhtalit," which means Mixed. Later, it was known as "Nadi Al-Hizb," which means The Party Club, and then Al-Wahda, until 1945, when it was officially recognized as a sports club with the General Administration of Sports and Scouting.
Great data bro! That´s why i love FM, it gave us the chance to know better about countries and clubs around the world! Greetings from Bolivia! I´m a Club Bolivar fan!
Then it wasn't Al wehda was it?
Al ittihad is first club in Saudi!!!! ياحراميه
The passion of the Saudis for football always existed and that will always be true
Then why is the average attendance for the Saudi soccer league so low? Some games have only a few thousand to several thousand people attending
@@tylerclayton608195% of football fans in the country support the top 4 clubs. Same concept as Egypt and Scotland. Having football passion does not equal strong attendances. The MLS has a higher average attendance than many leagues but it doesnt mean the US is a football passionate country. Australia has a higher average attendance than most Balkan Leagues but football is not even a top 2 sport there
We do have a lotttt of passionate fans thx for putting that out , also al fateh 2013 league win was a fairytale story.
Excellent. The depth of knowledge and human interest that you bring to the sport are sublime.
The most nuanced, indepth analysis of the the whole thing yet. As expected
Watching it while going home from a party at 3am after 26 shots of different stuff and itd the highlight of the night bc zeeland spittin facts and makes it so easy to enjoy and understand
For a topic such as this, you pitched this in such a well balanced way. I commend you for that. Nice work Z.
I'm not gonna act like everyone completely missed the Monty Python reference at 1:10 in the video. Beautifully done sir!
Loving the Peckham Town top. Brings back a lot of fun memories as a kid!!
Zealand’s Saudi check just cleared 🔥
I love this format of videos I think you should incorporate these in more but then we wouldn't get to see so much of your livestreams, as time constraints. But when you do these you do them so well!
My club AL- ITTIHAD was founded in 1927 , and my grandfathers both on my father side and my mother side supported the team since the 50’s
Very very very informative thank you for your professionalism 🇸🇦
Zealand,
I genuinely enjoyed this video. (As I do with all of your videos.)
Well done!
Learned of you from FM but love these type of videos keep up the fantastic work Z!
I was, in fact, honestly avoiding everything to do with the Saudi Pro League out of principle and disgust. But I knew a @ZealandonYT video would be fair and well researched, and I was not disappointed. Thank you for taking the time and effort to cover this!
Why? Isn't premier league donig the same thing since the 90's? they've driven player fees up, agents fees up, wages are at an all time high. shit players are bought and sold for 20-30mill. how can any club outside the top 5 compete with those prices? And isn't premier league also stealing young kids from other clubs? All the same as saudi league... Also if european clubs are against muslim money they shoulld stop taking money from muslim sponsors. muslim money is bad when they buy players but when u get muslim money from sponsors its okay... very hypocritial.
Still, any reference to this league will just serve their purpose. Despise and ignorance are the only things they deserve.
You know, Saudi people are passionate about football too.
@malconsak Yeah. And he talks about that. Doesn't change the problems with sports-washing, the unfairness of throwing unfathomable amounts of money at players, and the level of egocentric greed by the players leaving for the league under the tissue thin guise of "spreading the sport". I'm likewise bothered by MLS's disregard for the US Open Cup in their pursuit of fatter wallets. That doesn't mean US fans aren't passionate or even that I think such a thing.
Given the clearly divisive nature of the situation, most sources on the SPL are incredibly biased one way or the other. Therefore, I appreciate hearing information from someone that I know executes quality research and has a track record for fair and unbiased commentary.
@mosaabtwice3999 dude you are just swinging wildly and without foundation. You aren't here for a conversation, you just want to fight. This isn't how you make a point, this is how you lose people. If you really care about this, calm down and show me what's wrong with what I said and stop beating a strawman with a baseball bat.
Fantastic video Zea, really learned a lot! Good luck with the comments though
saudi arabia national team didn’t join the afc until 1978 as a protest against israel being in the federation
There has been a lot of talk about Saudi football since what haapen in the summer but these video is by far the best
If you're interested in football history in the Middle East, there's a lovely short film called Maradona's Legs, set in Palestine during the 1990 World Cup, about some kids following along and trying to collect stickers for a football album. It's on Netflix UK and (I believe) US and a few other Anglophone countries
How you managed to miss Saeed Owairan scoring the goal of the tournament at the '94 world cup against Belgium? I think since then they might be the only national team to get knocked out with no points or goals scored twice. By the way Al Nasser should be pronounced An Nasser otherwise a fascinating look into a league I saw on tv when growing up.
F**k the league.
@@empirelee7676Oh another crybaby who cant stand arabs being successful
cry elsewhere kid@@empirelee7676
@@swat2788 If the Saudi League teams were indeed successful, they wouldn't need to give the players 10 times the money they were going to get anywhere else...
@@The_Guy_You_Love_To_Hate Oh yeah so The US didnt just get Messi. And the UK didnt get other players from outside. Keep yapping bud. Its about management and getting good players not national players necessarily. If u want that watch the World Cup and Asia Cup
The video is great, I love the Monty Python and the Holy Grail quote you guys managed to sneak in :D
Very informative. I didn't know much about the Saudi League myself. Thanks for making this,
Hi Zealand I moved to Saudi Arabia 1 month ago from the UK. My closest club is Steven Gerrards Al Ettifaq and from the compound I am on there are quite a few that go to games, I will be going as well, so if you ever fancy coming here, I would love to help you out :-)
Al ittifaq is not fan based club.
Great work Ze!
Something can be highly manufactured and still have passionate people in its communuty. Just look at kpop
Great analysis zealand, thanks!
FINALLY someone who doesn't know only 2 saudi players (points to that fandom 👉) 😂😂😂😂
FYI, the Saudis didn't have control over Hijaz (Mecca, Jeddah) till the 1930s. At the time they played football in that region, it was ruled by the Hashimi King Hussain (currently ruling family of Jordan)
The first club established in Jeddah was Al Ittihad (United or Union) the club was merger between 2 clubs in Jeddah because the ritch kids had a club but the working class weren't allowed to join them so established their own club. They had a meeting between the club owners and decided to have a match, if the working class club won they would be able to join the Rich club. The workers won and established the new club Al Ittihad .
Hey where can I find information about the history of the Saudi clubs? And why do ppl hate al Hilal ?
@otaieb48 because they are win everything 90% of the time...
There isn't an official source for the history sadly. Only snippets fro. Old news papers and club websites. The Saudi FA is currently working with a committee to officially document the entire history of it.
If Saudi's were smart they would invest that money into National Player Development Academies and Teams, instead of just buying other teams and old expensive players.
They are working on it and don't forget that Saudi Arabia is in the Middle East, the region with the most wars and many policies that distract the ruling family from development. This is the goal of some countries without mentioning names. Don't worry about Saudi Arabia, they are really smart. Just as they turned the desert into skyscrapers, they are capable of doing more and the matter is not related to oil. Venezuela has more oil than Saudi Arabia. However, there are huge differences between the two countries.
The league is literally at its Zenith at the moment, it can only go downward. I think because of the lack of passion for their local clubs, with like 99% of people following 3 clubs
There are 5 big clubs with millions of fan base in Saudi Arabia: Alnassr, Alhilal, Alitihad, Alahli, AlShabab. Many other clubs had huge fans in the past such as Alitifah. The passion has been there since the beginning, if you could search on youtube a game in 1994 between Alnassr and Alhilal and see the fans search: النصر Vs الهلال (1-0) المربع الذهبي دوري 1994م | مباراة كامله
Agreed. I strongly believe the bubble will burst and the Saudi Pro League will go the way of the Chinese Super League.
I went to an Ettifaq vs Hilal game a couple of years ago & despite being the away team, Hilal had more than half the stands with the green Ettifaq supporters not even reaching a third.
@@ecstasycalculusbut Chinese football can become huge easily, Saudi Arabian will not. Its just a gsme of numbers. They have a population similar to Poland, which national league is barely relevant despite being its nr 1 sport, but with 7x its size km2.
Theres simply no market for such huge players to play there and make bazillion dollars a month and be even remotely profitable. And a national league HAS TO have national audience, as international fans might watch a game or two on TV but if its not top 5 international league skillwise they will drop it as soon as the hype dies out.
Seems like Saudi prinxes just wanted to flex their money getting big players with no hope of long team popularity, or they were just clueless qith their investment, but thats what happens when you have a country rulled by an absolute king and his princes and extended family is so rich they xan just decide to hire biggest sport stars on earth with 0% chance of making the money back, just because they can...
They should’ve just lobbyed uefa to get into the champions league, only way people would care about the league
Hello im from Saudi and we actually love this sport its the sport of or country and what we do is the same as Europe I don’t think that’s football is only for Europe, and they only can spend money. We genuinely love the sport. And thanks to the vision 2030 and MBS we now can live our dreams🇸🇦🔝. Thank u for ur video 🤍
10:53 it’s a tongue twister in English only but in Arabic when we say it IN ARABIC it’s actually really simple and it has a deeper meaning beyond football that’s it’s hard to explain
There was couple of small errors but in general the video is a masterpiece i wished that you would talk about the top teams and i don't mean only the top 4 but the teams who surprised all of us in Saudi either nowadays or in the past and wished you talked a little bit more about the whole project of making all Saudi tams owned by companies
But thanks for this dive to our beloved league
Great video but not very accurate.
For example the 8 foreign players rule has been in place since 2018 and was reduced to 7 then the club members voted to take it back to 8 again.
Also i need to point out that saudi league has been the best league in Asia since 2004 ahead of japan, australia, south korea and others.
What is with all these bots in the comments with pics of butts? Otherwise, great content as usual dude!
Spam advertising that UA-cam hasn't figured out how to remove yet
Hey Z, do a brazil and argentina story. Would be fun to know how a non european country have a religion around the British sport
Z to the Ealand, never apologize for bringing in some history. I prefer it over adding more memes.
One slight annoyance: The background music (again), I prefer none but if you must have it: please, let it take a proper backseat (aka turn the volume down).
Your material is good enough to grab and hold the attention, no need to pad it with music.
(I did lie though, its a major annoyance not a slight one :P)
ARAMCO IS AN SAUDI COMPANY, OWNED AND OPERATED BY SAUDI PEOPLE 🇸🇦🇸🇦
They bought it
@@ZealandonYT in the video you said its an American company, and that’s highly malicious misleading statement. You are misleading the viewers to Aramco present success is due to Americans. And that’s totally wrong, yes we the Saudis have bought it when it was NOTHING and WE have made it the third BIGGEST company in the world TODAY, we made the company’s success not the Americans.
Highly malicious misleading statement, and I’m not at all surprised typical American behavior.
@@ZealandonYTI like how you left all delusional comments and came to this.
Wait till 2034 and you will see what developments will happen there.
Sick youtube videos
@@swat2788 Whether you like it or not, it is true. And no need to wait till 2034, you can already see the great developmental rate which surpasses many major european nations and most definitely the fallen united states.
The future is Saudi 🇸🇦
Wait till you see their faces when they see a non western country on top. I bet they will keep whining.@@Abdul-mn5nb
Love that Peckham Town shirt!
Very informative. Still an irrelevant, sportswashing money league which no matter who they sign to their league will still remain irrelevant in the eyes of a normal football fan
Oh dear 😂 it’s not an irrelevant league. “Normal football fan” grow up, football is worldwide. Narrow minded bigot
Cry more 😂😂😂😂 what the mls isn’t that sport washing or just double standards
Sportswashing? Let me ask did you watch the wc a year ago did you cheer as messi lifted the wc and has your team benifited from saudi?
@notsaying7018 yeah my teams definitely not benefited from saudi. And yeah I watched the world cup couldn't care less who won it.
@@samamv9893 who's talking about the mls?
Bro not mentioning al ahli which won 13 “fa cups” and 9 league titles is disrespectful
Thank you for this Zealand. This is a great video and I appreciate you doing your research about a league I have followed religiously long before its current fame. But, I realised something.
Fans complain too much about how Saudi is using money to make a better league. But almost no one watches football leagues around the world because the football is good or interesting. Most are stuck to the Premier League, which literally did the same thing Saudi is doing right now: bringing in the best players.
I think it says more about football fans complaining about Saudi football, that eventually end up watching Saudi football because of players they know, than Saudi football being “a bad league”. I mean, they’re using a format that is clearly the best way to garner attention, but neeeds to be implemented correctly to succeed long-term.
Point is, if you’re going to talk about how pure football should be, watch the Brazilian league - the most interesting title and relegation race in 2023.
Follow the Moroccan League, filled with talented players and some of the best fans in the world.
Follow the Dutch or Portuguese League, competitions that give the Premier League its best talents and have interesting seasons from time to time.
the Saudi League (like the Chinese League) is just an easy target to criticise.
But if the league successfully implements its project and has some of the best teams in the world, people will watch it. No one is going to watch it because of a “great grassroots system and wonderful local talent”
I'd just like to say that as a life-long Newcastle United fan, the people you showed waving the Saudi flag in the stadium do not represent me nor the wider fanbase. I'm a season ticket holder and in contrary to what you implied, that is not a regular sight on match day. Our celebrations are in line with our love for our team and a club that we lost hope of being successful a long time ago, not for those that currently own it.
Great video btw.
You could just organise with other fans and demand your clubs owners to be expripriated but in fact English football fans lost the fight a long time ago against the capitalist because most of them are little "...."
Its harsh but true.
I cant even imagine being a English football club fan nowadays. Its the most loser-like thing I can imagine.
The only but at the same time the most important piece SA is missing in their football is culture. Recently, there was published a video about football in the Faroe Islands by Zealand, and he said that semi-professional football inside that place felt more real than fully professional one in the top leagues. Not only do I agree with that, but it brings an important reason, why even with these enormous spendings SA will never make it as a respectable country in football.
Culture makes the country to produce talents, money comes only after talent becomes a legend. And with no talents, SA is left to spend huge quantities of money on legends. It can bring the iron fans of these legends but will never bring the fans of culture, and, consequently, of the game itself.
I don't quite agree with your point. Well, the part about the enormous spending, I don't think you're wrong, but the part about football culture in Saudi.
For decades, football has been the only runaway from life for many youngsters and adults, it's rooted in most families, and it has passed on for generations. Also, many footballers back in the day used to be Semi-professional, and didn't play football as their main source of income, that's until the beginning of 2000s.
Using Faroe Islands as an example of football culture is not wrong, but what I think made you think Faroe is a good example is because they are European. There has been many examples where a small club from a small city in SA wins the league of the cup, or even the arabian gulf championship, such as Al-Fateh from Al-Ahsa back in 2012. The contrast between the these two examples are, when you hear news about a Saudi club succeeding while being the underdog of something, most wouldn't care. Unlike any European, or even East Asian club, where people will praise it and view it a sign of "Football culture".
@@ibra5760 I am not talking about underdogs winning something, I am talking about culture. Underdogs sometimes win something everywhere, not only on Faroe or in SA.
The minimum time football match requires you to spend on it with you being at the stadium is 90 mins. Highlights are max 10-20 mins depending on the match intensity. There has to be something which would challenge you to sit there with your favourite team for another 70 mins without wanting to leave or thinking about this time as spent wrong.
Hence, I am talking about something which WILL make you feel about these 70 mins as spent right. May it be the fact that among the players is your friend or the friend of your friend, or you just enjoy hanging out with other people watching different people to kick the ball - name it as you want, but this is what is called culture. This has nothing to do with being "European", it is more about how people tend to spend their free time.
More to the point: www.essentiallysports.com/soccer-football-news-despite-cristiano-ronaldo-neymars-move-seats-empty-in-saudi-pro-league-as-they-fail-to-fill-stadiums/
They fail to fill the stadiums even with all these stars because people just do not understand, what to watch there.
Dude as a Saudi please, please, please do NOT speak on us at all when it comes to football cuz yall don't know shit honestly and it piss me off.
I assure you Saudi are obsessed with the sport and ppl play it in the streets literally. We have street and school leagues. We have so many talents in the streets and throughout history, the reason you don't see them playing in Europe bc they get paid alot of money here so they would rather stay close to their families, not bc lack of talents.
Btw my club (al ittihad) averaged 40k attendance last season.. this season the sports ministry took our stadium to do a little bit of work on it for the club wc that happened this month so we had to play in a stadium that has a capacity of 25k, we still averaged 23k. We're returning to our 50k stadium in January... in general the big 5 club have good attendance average, the others not so much, but have potentials and there's reasons why they don't have that much....
1st: We're still building the infrastructure for these clubs, meaning the small clubs have really bad stadiums and that's why alot of ppl in other cities don't attend as much as the others bc the game experience is really poor..
2nd: alot of ppl complain about heat in the summer which mean we need stadiums that can have AC... so MOST of the problems is about the stadiums environment. And we're working on them..
3rd: we're not like England in the sense that ALL teams can full their stadiums and there's no shame in that. We're not the only country.. but overall the small teams have crowds just need to work on infrastructure and make the people believe in their teams in the other towns other than the big 5 in big cities.
So you saying that we don't "understand what's there to watch" is completely ignorant and not true and it's honestly offensive cuz I guarantee you there are young people in Saudi that are more PASSIONATE about the sport than you and more talented on the field. People just won't give them a chance.. but it doesn't matter cuz they're adding fuel to the fire that will explode in the next decade. 2022 wc was just a very small taste to whats to come.
Btw to finish this off we have a BIG academy called mahd academy that will help create the next generation in all sports especially football. They excepted kids born in 2007 and up. Also a school leagues.. So we care about our youth too.
We are the youth world cup 1989 winners what you talking about
Mate they won more than 4 AFC Asian cups and a lot of their clubs have won the champions League and the people their are obsessed with football. What more culture do you want ?
Is it available on fm24 now?
Not in the vanilla game, but you can have it with mod files
A little tip. Make sure to turn off sponsor block.
Just a small thing, at the time Aramco was US owned but is now 100% Saudi owned.
This was shown in the newspaper article he displayed.
well done sir
Wish I could play this league in game without mods
Wish this league wouldnt exist in real life.
@@empirelee7676cry more 😂😂😂
Is anyone else having issues with the newgan manager since the update?
The story of the SAUDIIIIII PROOOOOOOO LEAGUEEEEEEE
Only real OG’s know the original thumbnail and title for this video😌
11:45 Fun fact 😂😂😂😂😂
Al ahil football club (who got relegated last season) is actually one of the big clubs of Saudi Arabia but they didn't win the league in its new format NEVER acutely there 3rd league title win EVER was in 2016 lol.
Are you gonna do a video on the recent news about the MLS? I’m extremely disappointed with the league and Garber.
No matter how many superstars and money they throw at it, the league will always seem fake, like someone playing Ultimate Team in real life
This is probably exactly how Uruguayans felt about the English Premier League 50-60 years ago when they were a football powerhouse and English football was mid. However, it turns out, money changes a lot of things.
so that would mean Man City is fake? PSG? It's just how the money works
@@Sibiriuss yes they are… fake and cheating
@@giannis.ioannidis.1995 dude english football was never mid. National team was not mid it was super bad. But football as a hole has been huge since then. 60 years ago bobby charlton was already playing… so… what you on about??
@@rodrigogavaldon6606 i know. that's why i never liked them and never will. But not many people will agree :)
That’s so cool! I never knew the history of league in my country that’s interesting
Changed the thumbnail
Wheeeeeey Peckham town is my local team
I’m from Saudi if there are any questions I will answer all of them
Whats your team that u support?
@@SK-io2no Al nasser with Ronaldo
@@saudalsaqri2866 have you supported them all your life?
"Amnesty International can shout all they want" is crazy 😂😂
Bro is against Amnesty International now. $$$ talks
A country who's human rights record is only comparible to North korea having such a large presence in football genuinly makes me question whether I can keep following it
Newcastle fans waving a flag of a regime that executes children, gay people and journalists genuinly sickens me
That they will passionately defend the government of Saudi Arabia because it bought them Alexander isak is genuinly disturbing
What about the usa and uk and Canada or just double standard
Those governments aren't directly involved in their countries professional football, indeed FIFA demands independence for individual countries football associations (see Belize being disqualified from World Cup qualification in 2011), but they are using PIF as a convenient smokescreen to let them turn a blind eye to Saudi Arabia. As an absolute monarchy (one of only a handful in the entire world), Saudi Arabia can at any time, tell it's clubs anything it likes, and FIFA has to put up or shut up, and the cash helps them shut up.
@@samamv9893 In a world, where people know how the worst defense is to just throw around whataboutisms, you literally start your reply with "What about..."? How is anyone supposed to take you serious?
As a Saudi who has ever lived in Saudi, this comment makes me doubt anything is happening in North Korea.
Why is this above 2 minutes?
you forget the crown prince cup and the super cup
Zealand history channel when?
wow never knew my small little country of Singapore were runners up for the asian cup
0:15
Well, i have a problem with that quote because non of this has actually happened (and its doubtable they will have a lasting effect before someone stops being willing putting those sums of money into it). They have spend alot of money but there is no sporting success and certainly no gained political legitamacy.
Saudia Arabia is way more able to sportwash them with basically any other sport they invite than with football.
Them paying F1 or WWE is indefinetly more accepted than them paying CR7.
I think most Westerners (including myself), have no interest in Saudi football and regardless of what superstars go over there, will continue to consume the product that our domestic leagues and European competitions provide. That said, I don't think that we are the Saudi's targeted demographic. The African and Asian markets follow the stars and clearly, bringing in such stars is on the agenda. These markets are for the taking. Can't see the league rivaling Europe anytime soon, but who knows? Infinite money can be useful for sportwashing endeavors
What sportwashing? Saudi Arabia does not need washing like the west's full of blood hands.. SA is a country of peace and has not been in many conflicts and have actually been a huge moderator in many global and regional conflicts.. educate yourself if you are a truth seeker or go f yourself if you have agenda against my nation
That's what as a Saudi i been saying! The arab people (400M) have always watched the Saudi League and supported its big clubs its just that we want to spread it to the rest of Asia, Africa and South America alot of people and channels there and watching it now.. also Europe one day who knows.. we're definitely not there yet but we're always going to keep improving the league (infrastructure, youth & academies, the big clubs trademarks and popularity world wide, tv rights and the TALENTS playing here). Saudi people are very passionate about the game.. and we're only going to improve.. people should like that the game is growing around the world. 😅
its for us not for you.
@@o2edahoom if by us you mean the Saudi government and it’s sportwashing ventures, then you are correct
@@Dench999or911 you're pathetic and a hater
Did you know that there was a football club in artica in 1898 snd ppl kicked a stone from on side to the other.
Now there is a billionaire king. Anyway, this country has a big football culture.
whats the name of the last song?
i love you zealand
Zealand you forgot to mention Al-Ahly got promoted just last season. So they weren’t a top club lately.
They’re but the the relegation was shocking it’s like when Santos in brazil got relegated this year
as an al-ahli fan, I am really upset he didn't mention the club although we won the King's Cup 13 times and the Saudi Pro League 3 times, we were the only club to win a treble in a season in the history of Saudi football, and many other significant achievements in Saudi sports in general
bro you had mistakes and didn't mention important moments honestly i wish you made better research.
We just need global ffp to save football. But I guess the stars play there a few years until they get to know the country and get bored to play in front of tens if not hundreds of people. Just like it went in China.
why can’t you do this for the MLS? explain the mls it’s so complicated
he did a couple months back
9:37 little freudian slip there
Why you sound like joe rogan 😂. Nice vid
Bro how did you forgot about AlAhli its the best saudi team 😢
Yo, Indonesian bring football to saudi arabia? Didn't see that coming
Where is our & asia greatest achievement: Youth World Cup 1989
Saying that saudi blew up the US is a very poor choice of words😂
Something is not right when you have a full sentence for a name. They need nicknames badly. Even abbreviations would be too long.
Imagine prononucing that cup dude's name. Could they not just shorten it to Jeff and be done with it? At least for the public. Jeff Cup. There you go. Sounds better already.
You’re American brother call it soccer with conviction!
You did the research but you clearly are not familiar with Saudi football, talking to a local or old fan would’ve helped
Bit too heavy on the positives on this one chief.
He's actually not biased. Which i respect. I know... its hard for yall not to be when talking about Saudi.
Honeslty as a Saudi, i am happy and proud for the future of my saudi arabia football! and to those dummies and crybabies that keeps calling our league "superficial" and "Fake" dude... just grow up and or keep crying about it, there IS afuture for our football and its league and no matter how many times the western crybabies would yell at us with "fake and superficial" we will keep going and keep this future no matter what.. so keep crying about it
they spoke about human rights imagine?!
they are totally forgot Hiroshima + Nagasaki + Iraq + Afghan + everywhere else....... this is how blind they're.
but why bother with those innocents anyway!!!!!! human rights my Azz.
Let them cry.
Sport washing they say.
Aghh I cant stand those americans forgetting how fucking dark their history was and is
This comment section is about to get interesting
All a WC pr stunt
w8 w8 w8 , did we just enter a new era of content on ur channel? i like it !
i got a question: next week u will be the ceo of Fifa. yeah u . imagine u could change one thing. u can add or change one law. what rule or specification would u implement ?
in other words what would u change about european football ?
Soccer or football, pick one and stick to it. No need to say both! It’s infuriating
I love that you put that head gear on Ronaldo. Sell-outs to religious dictatorship.
The Saudi bots are here 🙌
In that region the main religion is not football , unlike the rest of the football world ....
So only alhilal are good
i will never touch this league in fm
You won’t sell your players to any of its clubs?
hehe , i didnt thought about that. never got an offer yet@@frieza2235
I like that you didn't mention Germany match in 2002 :)
Please stop saying Sardee Arabia.
Anyone from Saudi Arabia here ?
Since we helped you against the ottomans
Do you have good opinions on the British?
Or do you hate us like most other countries 😂
In general, we like UK and US. However, the issue is, we are in a primitive region, and we have lots of resources 😂. And this situation has created tensions. I will try and explain it in the most simple way. There is a global group that doesn’t want the west to ally with Saudi and benefit from resources and are fueling hate in the region against the west, and saudis are being peer pressured 😂. That same group are inflaming the west’s public and political opinion against Saudi….I can go on for ever…
Saudi here. Imma be honest, I don't like alot of the British arrogance that I see from "some" people. Nor the dry humor 🙂 BUT nonetheless, we're very friendly people and if you respect us and don't try to belittle us, we're cool with everyone!