After Neymar-Transfer: Al-Hilal-CEO Esteve Calzada about football in Saudi Arabia-Sport

Neymar may be gone, but footballers like him pushed the Saudi Arab league properly. Al-Hilal-CEO Esteve Calzada on the role of the government, the criticism of the sports washing-and about the question of whether the next bubble will not burst here soon.

For years, the Saudi football league has not only invested in the legs of world-class kickers such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Karim Benzema or Sadio Mané-but also in heads. The four large Saudi clubs, which changed the international transfer market two years ago, have all foreign chairmans with experience in the European Football Business. One of them is Esteve Calzada, born in Catalonia, who held important management positions at FC Barcelona and Manchester City in January 2024 before it was appointed CEO at Al-Hilal from Riad. The SZ met him in Hamburg on the sidelines of Spobi’s sports fair ended on Thursday.