Fancy a crack at the Saudi Pro League? Well, bizarrely they have publicly advertised for a defensive midfielder on a jobs website.
The listing placed on Futboljobs, a Spanish site, is seeking a footballer with appropriate experience who would be paid up to £875,000-a-year.
The employer is shown as Saudi Pro League and the logo can be seen on the web page along with their demands of prospective applicants.
They ask for a defensive midfielder with experience in leagues of a similar or higher level and to send their CV and highlights video or transfermarkt page.
The Saudi Pro League also require the player to be a free agent or one with an agent that controls 100 percent of the footballer rather than divided ownership.
Salary for the role is listed between £522,000 and £875,000 in the incredibly unorthodox recruitment method for top tier football.
A job posting for a midfielder in the Saudi Pro League has been posted online
The successful applicant would have the chance to play against Cristiano Ronaldo
The Saudi Pro League want the applicant to send in video footage of them playing
A successful applicant would line up against the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane in the Saudi Pro League, which has shot up in prominence over the last few seasons having recruited big names on massive pay packets.
Between 2023 and 2025, they spent a total of £1.3billion on foreign stars in a bid to generate more interest.
Their grand project called Vision 2030 is backed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth of the country understood to be worth in the region of £700billion.
Critics including human rights groups have accused them of sportswashing in attempting to rebrand the Saudi image and move away from associations with human rights abuses by using soft power.
Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad, Al-Ahli are the four top sides owned by the PIF and there is an annual budget of £1.5bn on a rolling basis.
The country will host the World Cup in 2034 but it remains to be seen whether there will be sustained or increased interest in the Saudi Pro League.
Ronaldo has been the landmark addition and he signed fresh terms last year on a two-year Al-Nassr contract.
It is the most lucrative in sporting history, according to a report, and is worth a basic £492million over the duration of the deal.
Additionally, he is reportedly pocketing a signing bonus of £24.5m which increases to £38m if he triggers the second year of his contract.
While the headlines centre on the big names such as Ronaldo, there is clearly money to be made for players outside the elite bracket, judging by the Saudi Pro League’s unorthodox job post.
While no specific club was posted on the online listing, if a defensive midfielder suddenly moves to the gulf state this January perhaps they’ll have found the job the old fashioned way.
