The sixth installment of “Al-Sharq Al-Awsat” reports, which track financial data in the sports sector, titled “Merqato Al-Sharq 2023,” produced in collaboration with Bloomberg, offers 28 comparative illustrations depicting the state of the international football transfer market in the Arab region from 2019 to 2023.
This report coincides with the launch of the “Bloomberg PowerPlayers” summit, sponsored by Al-Sharq Al-Awsat in collaboration with Bloomberg, on March 7th in Jeddah.
Riyad Hamada, Director of Economic News at “Al-Sharq Al-Awsat,” stated, “The football player transfer market is one of the most important indicators for measuring the economic conditions of clubs and leagues.
It is of interest to fans of the sport.
Therefore, ‘Al-Sharq Al-Awsat’ has been keen to monitor and compare the movement of football players in the Arab region over the past five years.”
Hamada added, “Merqato Al-Sharq 2023 also illustrates the dealings of Arab leagues in the transfer market, amid the significant buzz that occurred in the summer 2023 transfers with the significant openness of the Saudi league to sign top players, amidst tangible movement in the market for the Qatari and Emirati leagues.”
The report highlights the extent of spending by Arab leagues internationally in 2023, reaching $1.2 billion out of $1.826 billion spent over the last five years.
In contrast, revenues for the same period amounted to $220 million.
The “Merqato Al-Sharq 2023” report indicates that the Saudi, Qatari, and Emirati leagues topped the spending on player contracts, while Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt topped the list of winners in 2023, with Iraq and Jordan among the highest earners in the period 2019-2023.
At the club level, Saudi clubs owned by the Public Investment Fund, “Al-Hilal, Al-Ahli, Al-Nassr, and Al-Ittihad,” topped the spending on acquiring foreign players in Asia in 2023, while the top spot in Africa was held by Egyptian clubs Al-Ahly and Pyramids.
