A number of coaches from the European teams participating in Euro 2024 announced the initial players’ lists for the tournament, roshen which takes place in Germany from 14 June to 14 July.
The lists saw a number of players called together with Saudi Professional Roshen League clubs, headed by Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, captain of the victory, as well as compatriot Ruben Neves, midfielder of the crescent alongside fellow leader Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Over the years, the Saudi League served as a last stop for European players who did not find themselves a competitive place on the Old Continent before later announcing their retirement.
But that mental image has changed dramatically since Saudi Arabia experienced a game-wide boom and sparked the start of a global football project with Cristiano Ronaldo joining the victory ranks in January 2023.
The coming of the world’s stars enticed many to go through the experience, which increased the competitiveness and strength of the competition, and also maintained their glamour whether by shining in scoring, goal-making or even defenders, to ensure international participation with their country’s teams.
Roshen League Stars in Euro
Certainly any coach wishes to have a player with Cristiano Ronaldo’s specifications in his team. Besides his enormous skills and ability in front of goal, he is also a leader for his team-mates, which explains the insistence of Portugal manager Roberto Martinez on his permanent inclusion.
Ronaldo, top scorer of the Roshin League with 33 goals, was not alone in Portugal’s list, with fellow attacking midfielder Ottavio joining him.
Along with Ronaldo and Ottavio, Crescent star Ruben Neves also existed as the player who scored 7 goals and made other 11 this season cannot be ignored as a major contributor to the Crescent’s title crown.
If Portugal’s 2016 European champions have enlisted the help of Saudi league stars, Serbia have also called on crescent duo Aleksandar Mitrovic and Sergej Milinkovic Savic, after their outstanding performances throughout the season.
In the same vein, Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic, who had previously coached the al-hilal, used the services of Marcelo Brozovic, a star in the middle of victory.
For his part, France coach Didier Deschamps called N ‘Golo Kante a midfielder of the Jeddah Federation, although the brigadier general presented a season for forgetting, during which he could not be crowned a title.
Fate gave Dutch midfielder Georgino Wijnaldum an opportunity to join his country under Ronald Koeman despite the strength of the competition in the midfield, while Elhili defender Mireyah Demiral backed Turkey’s ranks, and victory defender Aymeric Laporte awaits Spain’s representation.
Away from the Top
The choices of the European teams included not only the players of the top clubs in Saudi Arabia, but also some of the players in the middle and bottom table clubs were on the rosters similar to the Romanian duo in the groove André Boca and Florin Tanassi, and their compatriot Nikolai Stenacho is an inclusion player.
Elahidi’s Macedonian Aleusi is also expected to participate with his country’s national team, Georgian Saba groove player, and the same for Belgian youth player Yannick Carrasco.
