This could be an oasis in the deserts of Saudi Arabia, or a mirage. The country’s new Saudi Pro League has captured the imagination of soccer fans in the Middle East and has sent shock waves around the world of soccer, and they mean business.

By signing some of the biggest names and elite soccer players from Europe with Neymar, the latest big-name player to join Al Hilal earlier this week, Saudi Arabia is aiming to establish a league that can compete with Europe’s biggest leagues.

Saudi Pro League to play wild card to enter European fray

According to a report in Calcio Finaza, the Saudi Pro League have mooted the idea with UEFA for a “wild card” entry into the UEFA Champions League by the 2024/25 season.

UEFA are currently looking at expanding the Champions League to 36 teams from the current format of 32, and the Saudi Pro League backed by the Public Investment Fund PIF, have suggested the possibility of one team from the SPL featuring in Europe’s premier cup competition.

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The report also mentions that the country currently has the FIFA Arab Cup and the AFC Champions League apart from the SPL for clubs from the region to contend through the season, but the SPL promoters want to claim the holy grail with a spot in the Champions League.

Saudi Arabia have the star power to play in the Champions League but there are issues

It’s no secret that the Saudi Pro League are now in a better position than they were last year for this groundbreaking proposal to UEFA.

With the influx of some of Europe’s biggest names with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, and their latest acquisition of Neymar as of this week, the SPL could look to leverage the league’s player star power to further strengthen their proposition to European football’s chief governing body.

And perhaps, these star names who have signed for Saudi Pro League clubs could stick on in Saudi Arabia should the league get a Champions League berth.

However, with the complications arising from a team that is categorized in FIFA’s Asian confederation, the AFC, playing in Europe could perhaps require the country to change their confederation altogether.

This could severely impact the Saudi Arabian national team, as they would have to qualify from the European pool instead of the Asian pool, making their qualification for the FIFA World Cup considerably harder.

It could be dubbed as unlikely, but it is not entirely out of contention, as UEFA could perhaps try to amend the rules to make the tournament more inclusive.

But given these several complications, the chances are rather slim, but it can’t be entirely ruled out either.

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