Just 299 Attend Saudi Pro League Match Despite Spending Hundreds Of Millions On Top Players

The trend of disappointing fan turnouts at Saudi Pro League games shows no sign of improvement.

Despite its renowned players,including Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Roberto Firmino, the league has struggled to attract significant fan support in the Middle Eastern country.

The latest example is Al-Riyadh, whose home match against Damac on December 28, saw a paltry attendance of just 299 spectators.

The Prince Turki bin Abdul Aziz Stadium was eerily quiet as the home team secured a 1-0 victory, courtesy of a goal from former Premier League star Andre Gray, who has scored four goals in 11 games since he joined the club in September.

The lack of fan presence at Al-Riyadh matches has been a recurrent theme throughout the season. Earlier this month, a mere 144 fans showed up to watch them play against Al-Khaleej, a game that resulted in a 1-0 loss.

Astonishingly, an even smaller number of supporters, just 133, attended a previous game where they cheered on the Saudi side. A game between Al Riyadh and Al Hazm at the beginning of the month witnessed an embarrassingly low attendance of just 264 spectators. The Saudi Pro League aspires to not only rival the top football leagues in Europe but surpass them in future years. However, the challenge it has proven for the team to grow a substantial and consistent fan base only begs more concern.

Transfermarkt’s average attendance figures for the current season show over half of the league’s teams have average attendance below the 10,000 mark. Al-Riyadh ranks at the bottom with an average of approximately 1,515 fans per game.

These figures are dismally low, especially since they amount to just 10% of the stadium’s capacity, which stands at 15,000. Despite the influx of talent the Saudi Pro League has managed to attract, one player’s time in the league may be coming to an end after only half a season, according to reports.

Firmino, a legendary figure from Liverpool, has struggled at Al-Ahli and failed to score a goal since his impressive hat-trick on debut back in August. Reports suggest that he may seek a return to Europe or even his native Brazil, despite his team currently sitting in third place in the league table.