Saleh Fareed
JEDDAH — In an attempt to bring more interesting and thrilling activities to Saudi football fans during the new season, Abdul Latif Jameel, official sponsors of the Saudi Professional League (SPL), has joined hands for the second year in a row with the SPL to announce that special activities will mark the news season.
“It is all set to create a new experience for fans” said Dr. Adel Ezzat, General Director of ALJ League during releasing the 2014-2015 calendar for the forthcoming season in a press conference Monday with the attendance of SPL CEO Mohammed Al-Nowaiser and Dr. Ibrahim Mohammed Badawood, Managing Director of Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives (ALJCI).
“Following our success last year, we are excited for the start of the new Saudi Football League ” said Ezzat.
“The interest and participation in the ALJ League has been extremely positive. Aside from the exciting football action, there has been a lot of fan and sponsor interaction. We are proud that we created friendly atmosphere at the games and it is a great sporting event for the whole community.”
He announced that ALJ will be offering plenty of entertaining programs, events in order to add more excitement and thrill to the game.
Mohammed Al-Nowaiser, SPL CEO said: “Our plan is to market and promote this league in the best way possible. Organizing this league not only showcases Saudi’s goal to develop community football but assist all communities to have access to football.”
He continued, “We are proud of partnering corporations and national institutions that contribute to the development of the beautiful game and provide the right support for us to reach the highest degree of progress.”
ALJ has been doing great efforts to improve the atmosphere of football in Saudi Arabia and it has really proved it last year,” he said.
He has emphasized the importance of securing additional financial resources for the league’s clubs through sponsorships.
He also noted that MBC group won recently the rights to broadcast Saudi Arabia’s Professional Football League and King Cup matches for the next 10 years in a deal which is worth 4.1 billion Saudi Riyals (around $1.093 billion). The value of the Saudi Professional League and the King’s Cup has increased from 150 million Riyals to 410 million per season.
Meanwhile, Ibrahim Mohammed Badawood, Managing Director of Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives (ALJCI) highlighted the initiatives that will be offered by ALJCI to Saudi youth during the new football season. He said, “We successfully created 217 job opportunities for young Saudis at the various football stadiums across the Kingdom and this year we are targeting more than 500 job opportunities.”
He, furthermore, called upon the Saudi business community to unite in launching more initiatives to create a strong network aimed at supporting young Saudis all over the Kingdom.
The season-official opening football league is expected to offer a strong battle between title holder Al-Nasr FC and Najran FC Friday.
