The Saudi Professional League held a meeting with club coaches on Sunday in the presence of Saudi Football Federation President Yasser Al-Masahal and Italy’s Roberto Manchini, the Green manager, to discuss the league’s calendar in the coming seasons.
The meeting saw the discussion of many important matters such as the pros and cons of increasing the number of foreign players and rotating international players who are not mainly involved with their clubs.
Yasser Al-Masahal has previously revealed the trend towards increasing the number of foreign players at the start of next season, saying in media statements: “We are studying in detail the increase in the number of foreign players present in the Roshen Professional League, which is currently on the list of each team 8 foreign players.”
During the meeting, most coaches made their proposals for the development of the league, foremost among them Portuguese Georgie Jesus and Luis Castro, Al-hilal and Al-nassr coaches, respectively.
Croatia’s head coach Slaven Bilic suggested that international players move from large teams if they do not play primarily to other teams to ensure regular participation for the benefit of them and the national team.
Mancini supported Bilic’s proposal, as the Italian coach would prefer to rely on players who were mainly involved.
Mancini has already done so for Italy, with Giacomo Raspadori and Gianluca Skamaka not being summoned for regular play.
Mancini said: “Raspadori is an important player for us, but he doesn’t play much. The same is true for Skamaka returning from injury, who is also not playing. The two can only improve if they participate. “
The meeting discussed the league’s calendar next season and the number of stops, as the league aims to reduce them so that they do not harm the interest of teams, especially since next season will see the Gulf Cup take place, so the trend is to rely on the Olympic team in the tournament rather than the first team, which ensures that the league does not stop.
The Association tends to meet with coaches periodically every month and a half to discuss their needs and ways to develop the league.
Although there was a representative of the referees’ committee during the meeting, the trainers did not address any arbitral problems.
International players will be able to play mainly in the Saudi Professional League, if an exemplary proposal made by Croatian coach Bilic is adopted, and has received considerable acceptance from Green coach Mancini of Italy, and provides for a mechanism to ensure that Saudi national team stars move to other clubs if they do not find a key place in their clubs, especially those that made global deals last summer.
The absence of international players from their basic club rosters has always been a concern for Saudi team officials from a technical and managerial apparatus, as they need to play at least essentially in the Saudi League games in order to maintain the highest degree of practice, fitness and friction, which later facilitates the task for the Green coach during the preparatory camps for international tournaments.
The rounds of the Saudi Professional League (SBA) have seen the absence of a group of Green Stars from their clubs’ rosters for the benefit of world front-row stars, leaving Green officials confused by this forced absence of international players who depend on them so much for tournaments and continental and international events.
