“Only European Clubs Can Participate” – Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar Jr’s Return to Europe Dismantled, as UEFA President Ends Champions League Hopes

It has been a summer of a lot of twists and turns surrounding the Saudi Pro League. With blockbuster signings like Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Sadio Mane among several others, the SPL has come to the forefront of the soccer world’s attention. But the SPL promoters’ holy grail of securing a UEFA Champions League spot has taken another turn.

UEFA have shot down the Saudi league’s bid to play in Europe’s premier cup competition. As per the UEFA president’s recent comments, the Saudi teams can’t feature in any European competitions.

Team(s) from the Saudi Pro League can’t feature in UEFA Champions League

We earlier reported that the SPL were mooting a sensational proposal to UEFA to feature in the Champions League. However, as per UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin’s recent comments, the proposal is unlikely to come to fruition.

According to a recent tweet on X by PSG Report via French media outlet L’Equipe, UEFA president Ceferin said, “Saudi Arabia participating in the UEFA Champions League? Only European clubs can participate in the Champions League, the Europa League, and the Europa Conference League.”

The news will surely be a huge loss for the SPL.

The Saudi Pro League has been splashing the cash on players to make the league popular worldwide. And they have succeeded in doing so to a certain degree. The SPL has signed CR7 and Neymar amongst others. But as it stands, they will only be allowed to feature in Asian cup competitions.

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At the moment, Saudi Arabia and the SPL fall in the Asian confederation, i.e., the AFC. Interestingly, if the Saudi Pro League aims to be able to have a team (or teams) qualify for the UEFA Champions League, they would have to change their confederation as well.

Saudi Pro League would face other complications if UEFA changes its stance

In such an event, they would have to be grouped in the European confederation. This would be the only plausible way of having a club from Saudi Arabia play in European club competitions.

Furthermore, this would have other implications which would entail that the Saudi Arabian national side would have to compete with European nations for a spot in the FIFA World Cup. Considering how difficult and competitive the European World Cup qualification pool is, Saudi Arabia’s chances of making the World Cup would be slim at best.

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So perhaps, it’s back to the drawing board for the Saudi Pro League’s promoters. And UEFA’s decision is a significant blow to the SPL. But the hope is that UEFA could rethink their stance in the future. The SPL itself will increase in popularity over time. So, it’s also a huge win for Asian soccer and its fans.