Quote from: Zlantann on Today at 10:58:58 PM

Quote from: shogun47 on Today at 10:43:29 PM

But if I recall correctly, no decision has been made about the timing of the Saudi Arabia World Cup and while you are right that Qatar was far less prepared, I think there will be huge infrastructure projects going on in Saudi Arabia. There will at least be modernization going on. But in terms of modernization they have the synergy effects I think from the Olympic Games, winter Olympic Games I should say! That's the frist test Saudi Arabia will go through and if they can prepare for Winter Olympic games, they can build the stadiums right.

The joint hosting right for 2030 was given to Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with few matches to be played in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. After that tournament, Saudi Arabia will be the sole host of the 2034 World Cup. Saudi will host a more organized tournament than Qatar which had so many lapses during the process of preparation and hosting. The inhuman treatment of immigrant workers who worked in the construction of football facilities was a national disgrace.

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But what I found a couple of days ago was how spending on players already dramatically decreased. They were close to a billion in 23/24 and now they are at less than half a billion in summer transfer window 24/5, which means the last transfer window.

I never thought their strategy could be sustainable and if they want their league to keep growing, I think they can't avoid continued high spending on essentially everything that high quality football requires. Managers, coaches, players, stadiums, infrastructure, everything. Now this supposedly still continues in some of the aforementioned areas, but in order to raise the level of their players, they will need to keep importing players from the best leagues.

Money is not the only tool that can grow a league. Their target should be building a system where the Saudi Professional League will be able to generate income for its running. The government might not be able to sustain its massive financing of some of the clubs. Chinese League had to crumble after the government decided to withdraw its massive financial support.

As for the first part of your post, that is a bold claim here that you think Saudi Arabia will do a better job than Qatar in treating their people building the infrastructure? I wish you are right, I really wish you are. All the lapses didn't come to light I guess in Qatar and neither will they in Saudi Arabia. Now I think that it may not be as bad, but that doesn't mean it will be fair and goof for people working there, visiting the tournament for journalism purposes etc. Everyone can correct me if I am wrong by the time we get there and I would rather be wrong than right on this one.

Money is a tool to build a system and since I mentioned several elements needed, I was talking about a system as you mean it. But before they can approach self-sustainability, money has to be used to get there. While the Saudis love football a lot, it hasn't had the same approach like in England, Spain, Italy, Germany where academies were built and football is sort of an academic subject with trainer education, managerial positions and so on and so forth. It is a cultural thing, but not as pervasively embedded beyond culture and fun and passion.

But to build such a system quickly and I think that is there goal, what other option do they have than using money and hire the right experts and whatever staff is needed?

China is an interesting story as I thought that the government was supporting it until they were not and withdrew their support by establishing these very hard financial limitations. But I think China was lacking a concept anyway and I somehow feel the same about Saudi Arabia. They had this massive push in 23/24, signed Ronaldo and wanted Mbappe for astronomic money, but that doesn't turn a country into a football nation a la England or Spain.

It is different with the Olympic games as their goal is not to become the best sports professionals in Winter Olympics, but they would like to become a lot more competitive in football I suppose. The Olympics is mainly about building infrastructure, but football is about building the entire system and that is hard not least because I think a lot of people wouldn't want a major part of their lives in Saudi Arabia, but many people are cool with living in Europe.