{"id":8769,"date":"2025-09-27T10:54:35","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T10:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/27\/saudian-professional-league-bumps-into-embarrassing-new-lows-as-fake-fans-paid-for-cheers-soccer-sports\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T10:54:35","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T10:54:35","slug":"saudian-professional-league-bumps-into-embarrassing-new-lows-as-fake-fans-paid-for-cheers-soccer-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/27\/saudian-professional-league-bumps-into-embarrassing-new-lows-as-fake-fans-paid-for-cheers-soccer-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudian professional league bumps into embarrassing new lows as &#8220;fake fans paid for cheers&#8221; | Soccer | Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Supporters of Saudi Arabian professional league teams are said to be paid to create noise in their desperate attempts to create atmosphere. The state-backed league has sought to challenge European hegemony in club football by attracting some of the sport&#8217;s biggest names to the Middle East. Following Cristiano Ronaldo&#8217;s move to Al Nassle, there are plenty of European football stars, so he&#8217;s fertilizing his wallet with Saudi money.<\/p>\n<p>However, famous players like Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Sadio Mane did little to increase the size of the crowd in many games. In fact, some match participants are barely reaching double digits. One club, Neom SC, is reportedly able to pay supporters about \u00a38 per game to amplify noise in matches.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>According to the French publication L&#8217;Equipe, there is a WhatsApp group that will announce instructions to fans. Named after a planned new urban area as a relatively new club, Neom is trying to make that mark.<\/p>\n<p>He recently rose to the top tier of the country following consecutive promotions and signed several big names, including former Premier League stars Alexandre Lacazette and Abdore Leidokore.<\/p>\n<p>They are now managed by Christophe Gartier, who previously coached Lionel Messi and Neymar of Paris Saint-Germain. The French club is known for its passionate fanbase that Neom is trying to replicate artificially.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The original club was actually founded as an Alschool club in 1965, spending most of its existence with limited success in tier 2 and 3.<\/p>\n<p>However, in 2023, the state-run Neom company bought the club and gave it a new identity.<\/p>\n<p>The broader Neom Company is planning a project to build Line, a 105-mile city in the heart of the desert. It also includes the construction of a stadium that will serve as one of the nation&#8217;s 2034 World Cup venues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>It will be built on a ground with a capacity of 46,000 on the coast of the Red Sea and is scheduled to begin in 2027 and be completed by 2032.<\/p>\n<p>For now, rather than paying fans, Neom is playing nearly 100 miles away at Takuk&#8217;s modest King Khalid Sports City Stadium, which has a capacity of 12,000 in front of paid fans.<\/p>\n<p>Neom got off to a solid start in the new season, winning two of his first three games and losing another. They currently sit in seventh place in the 18-team league.<\/p>\n<p>For the latest broken stories and headlines, sign up for the Daily Express Transfer Newsletter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/sport\/football\/2113956\/Saudi-Pro-League-fake-fans\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supporters of Saudi Arabian professional league teams are said to be paid to create noise in their desperate attempts to create atmosphere. The state-backed league has sought to challenge European hegemony in club football by attracting some of the sport&#8217;s biggest names to the Middle East. Following Cristiano Ronaldo&#8217;s move to Al Nassle, there are<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-matches"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Saudian professional league bumps into embarrassing new lows as &quot;fake fans paid for cheers&quot; | Soccer | Sports - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/27\/saudian-professional-league-bumps-into-embarrassing-new-lows-as-fake-fans-paid-for-cheers-soccer-sports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saudian professional league bumps into embarrassing new lows as &quot;fake fans paid for cheers&quot; | Soccer | Sports - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Supporters of Saudi Arabian professional league teams are said to be paid to create noise in their desperate attempts to create atmosphere. 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