The Middle East – an Undiscovered Hotbed of Soccer
With the recent signing of Cristiano Ronaldo to the Saudi Arabia’s Al Nasr team the profile of soccer in the Middle East has been raised dramatically. I recently visited the area to continue to establish my contacts with the clubs in the region. This trip took me to both Kuwait and United Arab Emirates (UAE) just prior to the World Cup and the excitement was obvious – flags in the airports, restaurants, and a real buzz on the streets.
The Kuwait Soccer structure comprises 15 clubs playing at two levels along with multiple feeder leagues for all ages. The number of clubs seems small but comparable to the population, it is considered reasonable.
They are very open to foreign players and those players are treated extremely well. Average salaries in the league range from $50K up to over $200K. In addition, there are other perks like accommodation and allowances.
In the UAE, 63 clubs are competing in all age levels for both women and men. It is an incredible industry in a nine million population. There are also ideas to establish a fifth division to absorb the demand of launching new football clubs. I have seen some countries that are not allowing foreigners to play but in UAE, everyone is allowed to be a professional player. There is a cap, but registration of underage foreign players makes the opportunity bigger.
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Soccer in the UAE is even more organized than in Kuwait with both a high level of play - level of play comparable to North American Soccer can be classified as mid-level between MLS and USL - and higher levels of funding and salary levels compared to Kuwait.
In meeting with all the club executives, I could see the Arabs hospitality in their veins. They are open to know new people and exchange information. They are certainly open to recruiting high level players.
In a future article I will explore more deeply the opportunities for foreign players in the region and why the Gulf?area should be of interest to many levels of players.