Cristiano Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, recently made a statement on 17 July suggesting that the Saudi Professional League is superior to Major League Soccer (MLS) in America. After participating in the first half of Al Nassr’s 5-0 preseason friendly loss to La Liga side Celta Vigo in Portugal, his home country, Ronaldo shared his opinion with the media.
When asked about the possibility of joining his rival Lionel Messi in the MLS, Ronaldo responded, “No, I think the Saudi league is better than MLS.”
It’s worth noting that Ronaldo joined the Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr in December 2022, signing a lucrative two-and-a-half-year contract that will earn him an estimated total of close to €200 million per year. His comparison of the two leagues comes shortly after Lionel Messi’s introduction to MLS following his signing with Inter Miami.
Inter Miami’s managing owner, Jorge Mas, revealed that it took three years of negotiations to bring the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner to the club and shared that Messi would earn between £50 million and $60 million per year.
Background Information:
The Saudi Pro League is the highest division of football in Saudi Arabia, organised by the Saudi Arabia Football Federation and consisting of 18 teams.
On the other hand, Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, featuring 29 teams, with 26 based in the United States and 3 in Canada.
Verification:
Ronaldo’s claim has garnered significant attention and sparked worldwide discussions among football followers and fans.
Determining which leagues are the best to watch or have the most talented players is an ongoing debate. Factors such as personal preference, patriotism, league reputation, and the excitement of young players play a role in shaping these opinions.
When assessing factual data, various criteria are considered, including transfer fees, average goals per game, market value, and attendance.
According to Transfermarkt, the Saudi Arabian league is currently valued at £461.45 million, while the MLS is estimated to be worth €1.24 billion.
Regarding attendance, the MLS had an average of 21,981 spectators per stadium during the current season, totalling 7,011,953 attendees. This represents a 4% increase compared to the previous year.
For the Saudi league, the average attendance per stadium was 10,197 during the recently concluded season, with a total of 2,080,302 attendees.
Television viewership is another aspect to consider. In 2022, the 34 Major League Soccer regular season matches televised on ABC and ESPN networks had an average audience of 343,000 (P2+), a 16% increase from the previous year among P2+ viewers (295,000).
Furthermore, unconfirmed reports suggest that Saudi Arabia’s viewership has increased by more than seven times since Ronaldo’s signing was announced.
According to a ranking by Twenty-First Group, a sports intelligence agency, the Saudi league was assessed as the 59th-best domestic league in the world, while the MLS was ranked 29th in January of this year.
In the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) annual rankings of the strongest national leagues, which cover the period from 1 January 2022, to December 31 2022, the Saudi Pro League was ranked 48th, while the USA was ranked 67th. The IFFHS is an organisation that documents the history and records of association football, founded by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig in 1984.
Verdict:
Based on the available information, insufficient evidence supports Cristiano Ronaldo’s claim that the Saudi League is superior to Major League Soccer. It is more accurate to consider his statement as “partly false.”