The Roshn League’s Year: A Comparative Analysis with EFL
There is no doubt that the recent influx of European League stars in the last year has piqued interest from everywhere. Especially, the Ronaldo effect. The day Cristiano Ronaldo moved to the Saudi League was the day heads started to turn. There was genuine intrigue and interest when he transferred to Al Nassr. The subsequent months created media buzz and rumors around the world’s biggest football stars leaving Europe to follow Ronaldo to the Middle East.
Did the viewership improve in the last year or so for the Roshn League? How does it compare to the EFL viewership?
EFL’s Dominance in Viewership
Forget about comparing the Roshn League with the Premier League, EFL has more than double the viewership of the Saudi League. Look, Roshn League is still in its baby stages, not inception-wise but interest-wise. Time will tell if the viewership of that league increases or not.
The Championship averages 20,000 fans per game attendance, if you compare that to the Roshn League which has an average attendance of around 8000 fans then it is a huge difference. Even League One averages around 11,000-12,000 fans per game. Roshn League has a lot of ground to make viewership-wise.
There is a huge difference atmosphere-wise as well, the games in the EFL are very competitive hence the fans are much more into the game every week too. There is barely any atmosphere in Roshn League games, in some of the games, the matches are played in front of 300-400 fans.Â
League Structure: EFL Pyramid vs. Roshn’s Singular Division
EFL is divided into three divisions – The Championship, League One, and League Two. Twenty-four teams each play in these three divisions. In the Championship, the top two teams get automatically promoted while the next four compete for promotion via the playoffs, and the bottom three teams are relegated to League One.
The top two teams in League One get automatically promoted to the Championship while the next four compete for the final promotion spot via the playoffs, and the bottom four are relegated to League Two.
In League Two, the top three teams get automatically promoted to League One while the next four compete in the playoffs for the final promotion spot, and at the other end, the bottom two teams get relegated to the National League.
The Roshn Saudi League does not have any other division apart from their premium first division. There is no relegation or promotion in the Saudi League system. There are currently 18 teams that compete in the Roshn Saudi League. Al Hilal is the most successful team in the Roshn League with 18 League titles.
As there is no pyramid system in the Roshn Saudi League, there is generally less competitiveness unless the teams are going for the title of the AFC Champions League spots. The bottom teams have no incentive or motivation to fight for places, on the other hand, the EFL pyramid system is amongst the most competitive in the whole of Europe.
Incentives: EFL vs. Roshn League
The prize money and incentives in the EFL pyramid are huge. If the club performs well in the EFL divisions then the perks are huge and if the the club is not doing well then there are consequences as well. Clubs may get relegated to divisions below and maybe even in non-league. There are also clubs that face financial troubles and end up getting bankrupted or defunct.
What about the players too? In EFL, if players are performing well then they might get a move to a bigger club and at a higher division, maybe even in the Premier League(Yes we’re looking at you, Dele Alli). A player’s performance carries a lot of weight as to whether they will succeed in the EFL division or not.
As for the Saudi League, there are no such player-related incentives. The players that have moved there are already earning millions, there is no threat of relegation either, and even if they perform well in that league they won’t be making moves to big European leagues because the Roshn League is currently equivalent to a low-ranked European League.
Of course, there are already established talents that have gone from Europe and South America to the Saudi League who will eventually find a decent European Club but the local talent are the ones that will struggle to find clubs elsewhere because of how uncompetitive Roshn League is. Also, the local talent has suffered the most with all these European and South American stars influx as there are now even fewer opportunities to showcase their talent in the team.
Is the Roshn League the New Chinese Super League?
Far from it. For starters, the Roshn Saudi League is not volatile like the Chinese Super League. The Roshn League is backed properly by the Saudi State and with Saudi Arabia which is in the midst of a modernization boom, we can’t see the league going dead like the Chinese Super League in 2 years’ time.
From what we can currently see, the ambitions of the Roshn League and the people running it are high and that league will only get better with time. If a league can get Cristiano Ronaldo to commit to them then it would be foolish to write such a league off like the Chinese Super League. The Roshn Saudi League is here to say.
As we always say though, only time will tell whether the Roshn Saudi League will sink or swim.
