MIAMI GARDENS: In the end, not even Saudi Arabia or Gianni Infantino could engineer a way to get Cristiano Ronaldo to the Club World Cup.
FIFA president Infantino certainly tried — last month making a public appeal ahead of the tournament.
“If any club is watching and is interested in hiring Ronaldo for the Club World Cup ...,” he teased during an interview with YouTuber iShowSpeed.
Ronaldo’s contract with Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr was due to expire and FIFA’s decision to create a specially-made mini transfer window for its newest competition meant the path was clear for the Real Madrid great to sign a short-term deal with a new team just in time to take part.
Given his connection to Saudi Arabia, where he was the face of the oil-rich kingdom’s spectacular drive to sign some of soccer’s biggest stars in recent years, rumors began to circulate about a move to Al Hilal — the country’s most successful team and its sole representative at the Club World Cup.
The problem was that Al Hilal and Al-Nassr are cross-city rivals in Riyadh. And even if Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund majority owns both teams — along with others — that was a step too far.
“As much as I respect Ronaldo as a huge player, as we all recognize he is, it’s certainly completely counter-intuitive that you bring the biggest player of your biggest opponent to play with you,” Al Hilal chief executive Esteve Calzada told the BBC. “Even more when it’s only for three to four weeks.”
Maybe so, but Saudi Arabia, with its vast wealth, has a made habit out of turning the improbable into the possible. And the very fact the prospect of a short-term move between clubs was even rumored, points to the boundaries it has been able to push while making its big play to become a force in global sport.
It has, after all, already changed the face of golf and virtually cornered the market for big time boxing. F1 racing is a fixed event and top class tennis has been lured, as well.
It’s ambitions in soccer have been the most spectacular of all — winning the right to host the 2034 World Cup, buying one of the Premier League’s most iconic teams in Newcastle and luring a slew of superstar players to a league that has nothing like the profile of those in Europe or Latin America.
Most recently it has played a role in helping to fund the Club World Cup — either directly or indirectly — with a reported $1 billion investment in tournament broadcaster DAZN and a commercial partnership with FIFA, which has put up a $1 billion prize pot for teams competing.
The Club World Cup is the chance for Saudi Arabia to make a latest statement on the international stage in its first chance test one of its elite clubs against the best from around the globe — starting with 15-time European champion Real Madrid at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium on Wednesday.
That is why it is surprising there wasn’t more of a push to furnish Al Hilal with the type of marquee signing Saudi Arabian clubs have been collecting since Ronaldo’s move opened the floodgates at the end of 2022.
The four-time Asian champion even released Brazil great Neymar in January after an ACL injury reduced him to just seven appearances following his $94 million move from Paris Saint-Germain in 2023.
A move was made for Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes just before the Club World Cup, but the Portugal midfielder rejected the offer. There was also reported interest in striker Victor Osimhen and Darwin Nunez, though no major deals were secured before the team flew out to the United States.
“The club is working in order to improve the team, and I believe this will be done. Now it’s pointless to talk about market because the market is closed,” coach Simone Inzaghi Tuesday. And he still has big money recruits from overseas in the form of players like Aleksandar Mitrovic, Joao Cancelo, Kalidou Koulibaly and Ruben Neves.
But the significant acquisition made ahead of the tournament was Inzaghi himself, who left Italian giant Inter Milan earlier this month to become arguably the highest profile coach to head to Saudi Arabia.
“My ambition, the ambition of the club, is to try to grow more, to try to make Al Hilal become one of the best football clubs,” he said. “I believe the time has come to get out of my comfort zone.”
In a sense, Saudi Arabia is shaking soccer out of its comfort zone.
Madrid versus Al Hilal could be seen as a case of soccer’s old money versus a seemingly unstoppable disrupter.
Madrid is the biggest powerhouse in the world’s most popular sport — its most successful and most storied team. Soccer, however, is witnessing an undoubted powershift and Saudi Arabia is a coming force.
“Sometimes we just focus on what’s going on in Europe, and we think there’s nothing else beyond Europe. We’re too focused on Europe,” Madrid coach Xabi Alonso said.