The Saudi Pro League struck a new low in their attendance figures over the weekend, as a battle between Al Fayha and Al Riyadh saw a pitiful total of 390 supporters attend the match on Sunday. The Pro League's popularity has spread throughout the world owing to the presence of various football superstars, like Karim Benzema, Neymar Jr., and Cristiano Ronaldo, but domestic support is still lacking. At the King Salman Sport City Stadium in Al Majma'ah, the 390 spectators could almost fit into one stand as the hosts defeated Al Riyadh 2-0.
Despite having a capacity of only 7,000, Al Fayha's stadium is among the smaller ones in the league, thus the team and the league organisers as a whole will be concerned about the lack of a significant average attendance figure. Chris Smalling, a former defender for Manchester United and AS Roma, and Fashion Sakala, a former Rangers winger who scored in this game, have moved to Al Fahya. The King Salman Stadium averaged just 2301 supporters in the 23/24 season as per Transfermarkt, significantly under the halfway point, with the relative absence of celebrity names not explaining such a discrepancy in these figures. The Saudi Pro League has had general trouble drawing large crowds to its venues. King Abdullah Sport City Stadium in Jeddah, which is shared by Al Ahli and Al Ettihad, has a capacity of 62,000, making it the largest club stadium in Saudi Arabia. Despite this, both clubs had trouble drawing huge crowds—roughly 17,000 and 24,000, respectively—into the expansive stadium during the previous season.
Last season, the Saudi Pro League averaged fewer than 9,000 attendance per event, according to Transfermarkt statistics. This puts it considerably shy of the numbers posted by the third divisions in both Germany and England (9,500 for the EFL League One and 9,200 for the 3. Liga), but worryingly also short of the Bundesliga (39,000) and the Premier League (38,000). Due to their larger star attractions and location in the capital Riyadh, Ronaldo's Al Nassr and Neymar's Al Hilal are comparatively better placed; on average, their stadiums were filled to 70%. Still, this is still well short of the top teams in the world, with clubs like Manchester United and Bayern Munich packing their 75,000-seat stadiums and even lesser teams like West Ham regularly drawing crowds of up to 62,000 at the London Stadium. This summer, the Saudi Pro League welcomed high-profile players like Ivan Toney, Joao Cancelo, and Moussa Diaby thanks to its wealth; nonetheless, attendance problems persist in a nation that is sometimes blamed for lacking a dedicated local fan base.
