Not if European competition is altered to enable them to play. Wouldn't surprise anyone. If that happens then what's happening now will just be flexing their muscles.
I think it's very unlikely that UEFA will allow the pro league clubs in European competition for various reasons. The big clubs have to much power and will not want to compete against teams with unlimited wealth. UEFA is quite weak compared to FIFA and does not have the power to force clubs to accept ridiculous, financially motivated changes. Also, there is the FFP issue, I know it's quite weak but none of the Saudi clubs will come close to meeting FFP rules. I also think that the Saudis probably would not want to have the financial openness required for FFP. Then we have the ownership issue. PIF owns at least 4 of the pro league teams, how is that going to fit with UEFAs ownership rules.
Finally, we have the moral objections, allowing Saudi clubs into European competition would cause serious damage to the brand, look how quick Russian clubs and Gazprom got pushed out after the Ukraine invasion.
I don't think you should catastrophise about this. Football is a much bigger sport than golf or F1. I prefer that the Saudis build up their own league rather than buy European clubs and copy City. Even if they buy up 100 players from Europe it's will not have a major impact on our competition.
Does anyone know what time the Saudi games kick off? I think they are probably aiming for a gap in the TV schedules after the European games have finished?
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