Feb 02, 2026
3 min read
The former Madridistas refused to play with Al Nassr and Al Ittihad in an unexpected decision of the market in the Saudi Pro League.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema met in the Concha Espina in the summer of 2009 with Florentino Pérez's return to the Santiago Bernabéu box and for nine seasons they formed the best duo in the history of Real Madrid.Or at least from a more recent period.
Now that both are in the twilight of their respective careers, both recent "revolts" have knocked Saudi Arabia into relative market closeness.Cristiano Ronaldo fulfilled his "threat" not to play against Al Riyadh - he is not in the team - and Benzema insisted on "sitting" at Al Etihad.
To put items in context, it is worth clarifying for a while some important issues at the work of the Saudi League.With the purpose of diversifying the country's fountains of income, the PIF (Public Investment Fund) made a strong commitment to the league of the leages, al-ilter, al-Kotiah and Al-Oil.Owned by
Cristiano Ronaldo's arrival in the winter of 2023 sets in motion a machine that has been investing huge amounts of money ever since... before changing the normal functioning of the market.Karim Benzema himself moved to Al Ittihad six months after his contract with Real Madrid ended and Al Hilal invested €90 million to lure Neymar.
Less than three years later, Benzema raised his hand.And, with less than six months left until the end of the contract, the information published by 'L'Équipe' last week is that Benzema will feel insulted by the renewal offer made by Al Ittihad and will therefore declare himself in default.In fact, he did not participate in the last match against Al Fateh and Al Najma.
If Al Ittihad refuse to let Diaby or Kante go, the situation looks set to continue until their contracts expire in June.However, Marcos Leonardo - who no longer counts as an under-21 player - could now mean a departure to Atletico de Madrid, due to Al Hilal launching a bid to acquire Benzema's services in the same winter market.Now this is even weirder... Both clubs are governed by the PIF, even though the sports directorates are different.
In any case, this move for Benzema that Al Hilal is willing to make in the past few hours has unleashed the fury of Cristiano Ronaldo who also spoke out in rebellion and did not wear shorts with Al Nassr this afternoon to face Al Riyadh in the middle of the Saudi Professional Championship match with Al Hilal.In fact, this is the first official win since he landed in Arabia.
The difference is 215 million
According to the information published in 'A Bola', Cristiano feels that the PIF does not support all the clubs under his control equally.He is right to some extent.And according to "Transfermarkt" data, Al Hilal has invested a total of 624 million euros since the summer of 2023... to 409 million from Al Nassr.Behind them would come Al Ahli (380) and Al Ittihad (334) with more equal numbers.
The Most Expensive Clubs in Saudi Arabia (2023-2026):
- Al Hu Hamal: 624 million
- Al Nasser: 409 million
- My family: 380 million
- Al Ittihad: 334 million
- Al Qudsiyya: 213 AD
The situation, which has not been corrected, has worsened in this last window, because Al Nassr did not include Haydeer Abdulkareem, the young Iarchian from Al Zawraa... while Al Hilal strengthened its team with names such as Kader Meïté (Rennes / 30), Murad Al-Hawsai (Al. Khaleej) , 30 Taaina / Filworent Taa.2) and Rayan Al Dossary (Al Khaleej).
In total, Al Hilal invested over 40 million in these players... waiting to lock up Karim Benzema and the talented Simon Bouabre, ex-Monaco.Al Nassr, however, does not expect further development in this latter part of the market.Firstly, given the information published in "A Bola" that the powers of Simão Coutinho (Sporting Director) and José Semedo (CEO) have been "frozen" since the beginning of the month due to a decision imposed by the government.
All this "imbroglio" only increases the degree of "disruption" of Cristiano Ronaldo, who already left the last duel between Al Hilal and Al Nassr extremely "hot".And after Jorge Jesus' men took the lead in the first half, Al-Dawsari leveled the game from the spot after a controversial penalty ... and Al Aqidi's red card was shown to tilt the game in favor of Simon Inzaghi's men.
It is clear that this is a "soap box" with many edges, and there does not seem to be a simple solution that satisfies all parties.But in this case it looks like Cristiano will have to give in eventually... because he has more to lose if he continues his rebellion.First of all, if he wants to reach a thousand goals in his career as soon as possible.
