The Saudi Pro League reached a new low in their attendance numbers over the weekend, as a clash between Al Fayha and Al Riyadh saw a paltry sum of 390 supporters attend the match on Sunday.
Although the Pro League has shot into global consciousness due to the attraction of several football superstars led by Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr, and Karim Benzema, the support at home continues to be a work in progress. The 390 supporters could barely fill out one stand at the King Salman Sport City Stadium in Al Majma’ah to witness the hosts beat Al Riyadh by a score of 2-0.
Although Al Fayha’s stadium is one of the smaller ones in the league, with a capacity of 7,000, the failure to put up a strong average attendance number will be concerning to not only the team but also the organisers of the league as a whole.
Al Fahya is the new home of former Manchester United and AS Roma defender Chris Smalling, as well as former Rangers winger Fashion Sakala, who was on the scoresheet in this match.
The King Salman Stadium averaged only 2301 supporters in the 23/24 season as per Transfermarkt, well under the halfway mark, with the relative lack of star names not explaining such a gulf in these numbers. Across the board, the Saudi Pro League has struggled to fill out the numbers in its stands.
The largest club stadium in Saudi Arabia is the King Abdullah Sport City Stadium in Jeddah, with a capacity of 62,000, shared by Al Ahli and Al Ettihad. Nevertheless, both teams struggled to put up the numbers in the large stadium, averaging roughly 17,000 and 24,000 respectively last season.
How does Saudi Pro League compare to the rest of the world?
As per data on Transfermarkt, the Saudi Pro League had an across-the-board average of under 9,000 attendees last season. This places it well short of the Bundesliga (39,000) and the Premier League (38,000), but concerningly for the Pro League, also short of the numbers put up by the third divisions in both Germany and England (9,500 for the EFL League One, and 9,200 for the 3. Liga.)
Ronaldo’s Al Nassr and Neymar’s Al Hilal are relatively better off, with their bigger star attractions and presence in the capital of Riyadh meaning they were filling roughly 70% of their stadiums on average.
Nevertheless, this remains well short of the best teams in the world, with Manchester United and Bayern Munich filling their 75,000 capacity stadiums to capacity, and even teams of a smaller stature such as West Ham consistently having an average attendance of 62,000 in the London Stadium.
The Saudi Pro League used its riches to welcome high-profile players such as Ivan Toney, Joao Cancelo, and Moussa Diaby this summer, but the attendance issues continue to persist in a country which has routinely been criticised for a lack of local and loyal following.
The big names and the bigger money offered to them haven’t proven to be enough for teams lower down the table, and this will be a concern that the Pro League will need to answer as their bid for international significance continues to be affected by disappointing attendance numbers.