It seems crazy to do without the services of Lionel Messi, but clearly, Saudi Arabia does not need the talent of the Argentine international. The gas state has turned down an offer from the superstar to join its Championship for a period of four months before the 2026 World Cup, according to a sports sector executive.
“Messi’s team contacted me during the Club World Cup last summer. He wanted to play in Saudi Arabia during the four months of interruption of the American championship in order to prepare for the 2026 World Cup,” said Abdallah Hammad, general director of the Mahd Academy for talent development in a podcast from the Saudi media Thmanya.
“The same thing happened with (David) Beckham when he played for the Los Angeles Galaxy and went to play in Milan,” he added. Messi, an eight-time Ballon d’Or winner aged 38, is considered one of the greatest footballers in history. Winner of numerous trophies with FC Barcelona, including four Champions Leagues, he joined Paris Saint-Germain in 2021 then Inter Miami in 2023, after having been approached for a time at the Saudi club Al-Hilal.
Minister’s veto
Asked if the kingdom had actually declined Messi’s offer, he confirmed: “that’s correct.” “I submitted the proposal to the minister, but he refused to allow Messi to come for only four months, and the file was closed. He said that the Saudi championship would not be a training camp,” said Abdallah Hammad.
Since the resounding signing of Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr at the start of 2023, the Saudi championship has attracted many stars from major European clubs, including Karim Benzema and Neymar, while the kingdom has been awarded the organization of the 2034 World Cup.
Speaking behind the scenes of Ronaldo’s recruitment, Academy general manager Mahd said: “The first contact took place during our trip at the start of the World Cup in Qatar in 2022. We spoke with him and his entourage while he was still at Manchester United.”
Claiming to want to make the Saudi championship “one of the best in the world”, Hammad also declared that the signing of Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia had been “a historic transfer which (had) changed the face of the Saudi championship”.