Roberto Firmino

Good morning, dear reader,

do you know Frank Schmidt? The stocky 49-year-old is the coach of the 1. FC Heidenheim football club. He does his job so reliably, consistently and, last but not least, successfully that he has been looking after the team from the town of 50,000 in the tranquil country side for 16 years. Under his leadership, the Heidenheimers have accomplished a feat this year: promotion to the Bundesliga. Next season team captain Patrick Mainka, clearer Norman Theuerkauf and left wing Jan-Niklas Beste will compete with the highly paid superstars from FC Bayern, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen.

Schmidt has long been known nationwide in German football as a likeable and authentic unicum. And even if the rise of the Heidenheimers is often glorified as a miracle of biblical proportions, as if a ragged pub elf with a makeshift ball had played the million-dollar clubs of the 2nd Bundesliga in front of them (in truth, numerous companies from the region support a highly professionally managed club ), it is a charming anecdote. The club maintains its own image: honest and real – with Schmidt as a modest face.

And yet the otherwise so honest, born Heidenheimer could not resist a dig a few days ago: “Unfortunately, today wasn’t the test we were hoping for”, said the coach on Saturday after the game against Saudi Arabia’s al-Ahli. Because not only was the continuation of the game, which was scheduled for twice 60 minutes, made impossible after almost an hour and a half due to a full-blown downpour in the Tyrolean training camp – the class of the guests from the Orient was apparently more like a mirage than a footballing revelation. “The opponent’s quality wasn’t what we needed as a challenge in the training camp,” explained Schmidt.

The ball artists from the Brenz were jogged to a comfortable 6:2 after three quarters of the season – mind you: against a team with the 2021 world goalkeeper Édouard Mendy and the Brazilian international striker Roberto Firmino, who dared to travel to Saudi Arabia this summer . And with the German coach Matthias Jaissle, who threw away his quite successful work at the can-alimented soccer club from Salzburg in a cloak-and-dagger operation shortly before the start of the season for a highly paid job in sporting nothing. Al-Ahli signed Riyad Mahrez from Manchester City for 35 million euros just a few days ago, and treated himself to Allan Saint-Maximin from Newcastle United for another 27.2 million. The club has already invested over 80 million this summer. For comparison: Bayern and Dortmund come to 99 million – together.

Not a day in world football goes by without renewed speculation about a well-known player moving to Saudi Arabia. The reality is: It will stay that way – and should cause concern. Europe’s top clubs face a threat that will only increase.

Because the country with one of the highest gross domestic products in the world will not only have a lasting impact on football, but on all sports. “I’m just observing the situation,” said Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel recently on the sidelines of the German record champions’ trip to Asia. The 49-year-old, a shrewd analyzer of world football, continued: “It’s just a very new situation, maybe a bit similar to the situation when China started their league. There was a similar gold rush there and yes you do Experiences.” Saudi Arabia is “the next league trying to get more popular and famous, trying to build the brand.”

Nouveau riche clubs or entire leagues and the bizarre stories that went with it actually happened more frequently over the years, whether in China, Russia or Uzbekistan. But Saudi Arabia’s engagement has reached another dimension.

According to reports, the kingdom wants to spend almost 20 billion euros on football alone by 2030, Commitment to other sports is also being ramped up: the Saudi Arabian Formula 1 Grand Prix has been in existence since 2021, star players in the Gulf have been lured into a new league with astronomical prize money, and the country wants to become more present in boxing and handball. This source of money will not suddenly dry up, the interest in a long-term establishment is well-founded. “They convince a lot of quality players and even coaches,” noted Tuchel. “So the situation is completely new and it’s still a bit early for me to have a clear opinion. I’m an observer, a surprised observer.”

A very big goal – in addition to the sports washing of a fierce dictatorship, which is euphemistic for “image cultivation” – is the organization of the Olympic Games or, even bigger, a football World Cup. A joint application with Greece and Egypt for the 2030 tournament recently seemed to burst. Anyone who knows Fifa and its windy presidents, who had no fear of contact with morally questionable hosts when the World Cup was awarded to Russia or Qatar, will not be surprised if Gianni Infantino is in the best of spirits in the stands in a country that unwelcome critics like to have dismembered alive.

The recent move from Fabinho’s Liverpool team-mate Jordan Henderson to al-Ettifaq sparked particularly heated discussions – the longtime captain of the “Reds” had always been an exemplary advocate for LGBTQ rights, which are trampled on in the most brutal way in Saudi Arabia.

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2023-08-03 00:08:08
#big #blow #Saudi #Arabia #scaring #Europes #football