The Liverpool Quartet In Saudi Pro League

Saudi Pro League club Al-Ettifaq confirmed July 03 the appointment of former Liverpool and England midfielder Steven Gerrard as their new manager on a two-season contract. The 43-year-old previously served Glasgow Rangers and Aston Villa as a head coach. 

 

Fellow teammate Jordan Henderson has also left the Merseyside club to join Gerrard's Al-Ettifaq. 

 

And after eight years at Liverpool, Roberto Firmino is also heading to Saudi Arabia to join Al-Ahli. 

 

So too is Liverpool midfielder Fabinho (Fábio Henrique Tavares) who completes a move to Saudi side Al-Ittihad.

 

Not forgetting to include 24-year-old winger Jota, actually João Pedro Neves Filipe (right) who is another player joining Al-lttihad, coming from Celtic in a £25 million deal. 

 

They’re among the prominent signings, e.g., Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Edouard Mendy, Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kante, as part of a widespread influx of players into the Saudi Pro League. The volume of transfers, the money paid and the profile of the players moving all underline the league's ambition to be one of the top competitions in the world in the next couple of years.

 

The Saudi Pro League (known as the Roshn Saudi League for sponsorship reasons), is the highest division of association football in the Saudi league system. Sixteen clubs make up the Saudi Professional League. During the course of a season (usually from August to May), each club plays the other clubs twice – a double round-robin system – once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for 30 games.  

 

It is noteworthy to mention that Saudi Arabia has always had a big interest in football – and a competitive league to go with it. FYI, the national team has qualified for six of the past eight World Cups. And they have won three Asian Cups – only Japan has more.