An average of 8,470 supporters have attended a Saudi Pro League match so far this season, with less than four-figures at Al-Ettifaq’s defeat against Al-Riyadh on Sunday.
The Saudi Pro League has faced its fair share of criticism since the division started to sign the world’s biggest names. However, there is no doubt it has caught the eye of many across the globe, just not necessarily in the stands.
Cristiano Ronaldo became the first blockbuster arrival in Saudi Arabia after he signed for Al-Nassr in January. There then followed a summer of spending power, with over £750million spent by Saudi clubs as the likes of Neymar, Riyad Mahrez, Jordan Henderson and Fabinho joined the exodus from top European sides.
But despite this incoming galaxy of stars, fans are still not flocking to stadiums across the country and attendances are low. At the weekend just 696 supporters watched Steven Gerrard’s Al-Ettifaq as they lost 1-0 at Al-Riyadh. This wasn’t the only crowd under 1,000 either, as 792 fans saw Al-Akhdoud face Al-Feiha, while just 532 fans were at Al-Hazm’s win over Al-Raed.
At the other end of the scale, the highest attendance across the latest round of Saudi Pro League fixtures was at the King Abdullah Sports City where Al-Ahli hosted Al-Wehda in front of 16,919 supporters, just a handful more than the 16,875 who saw Cristiano Ronaldo score for Al-Nassr against Damac FC.
In comparison, there were more supporters watching the match between Bradford City and Wrexham in England’s fourth tier on Saturday (21,552), while across League One, two matches saw over 17,000 fans in attendance. Nine Championship fixtures – including 28,449 at Middlesbrough’s win over Birmingham – had more supporters in the stadium than any Saudi Pro League game over the weekend.
The average attendances don’t read much better for the Saudi Pro League either. Al-Ittihad, who have N’Golo Kante, Fabinho and Karim Benzema among others at their disposal, have the highest average crowd in the league, with 29,044 turning up for their matches. The other three of the so-called ‘big-four’ state-backed sides rank next on the list, with Al-Hilal second on 22,381 and Al-Nassr (20,615) and Al-Ahli (19,296) third and fourth.
However, they are the only four clubs to average more than five-figures so far this season. Every other side, including Gerrard and Henderson’s Al-Ettifaq, have below 10,000. Despite playing in front of a 35,000 capacity stadium, Al-Ettifaq’s average attendance is 7,021 – less than English fifth-tier side Chesterfield.
The lowest average attendance across the 18 Saudi Pro League teams is at minnows Abha (1,988). Al-Riyadh don’t get many more through the turnstiles at 2,139, while Al-Fayha (2,860) complete the bottom three. In contrast, Bury, who play in the ninth tier of English football, currently average 3,336 supporters per-match.
As for the highest individual attendance, an impressive 59,600 watched Al-Hilal draw 1-1 against Al-Fayha in their opening home match of the campaign. Meanwhile the lowest is alarming, with just 133 people turning up to watch Al-Okhdood beat Al-Riyadh 1-0 back in early September. Put simply, when there are no global superstars involved in matches then crowds do not want to turn up at all, and even when there are the interest fluctuates.
Although there has been a notable rise in attendances since this time last year (24 per cent), it won’t be quite as quite as high as the Saudi Pro League were hoping after their influx of world superstars. The division has, however, secured some big-money TV deals to broadcast matches in 130 different territories, which has brought in almost four times the amount of revenue compared to last season.