In This Article
01 Beyond the Transfer Market 02 Investing in the System 03 Leadership Before Kick-Off 04 Developing the Person 05 Five Foundations 06 The Opportunity for Arab Football 07 Who Will Win the Future? 08 Sources

Saudi football is going through a visible transformation. The arrival of internationally recognised players and the growing profile of the domestic competition have attracted global attention. At the same time, a broader ambition is taking shape: improving local talent development, strengthening club academies, building sporting capabilities, and creating a system that can produce professional players over the long term.

This raises a question that matters well beyond Saudi Arabia: how can a club move from assembling a competitive team for the current season to building an institution that can consistently identify, develop, and graduate talented players?

In my view, the answer begins with recognising that modern football is shaped by more than what happens on the pitch. Leadership, strategic planning, talent management, investment in people, and organisational culture all influence a club’s ability to improve and remain competitive.

Sporting success needs a vision beyond the transfer market

Major signings can raise the level of competition. Players with international experience bring technical quality, commercial attention, new audiences, and higher expectations. They can also create valuable opportunities for local players to learn through daily training and competition.

Al Nassr offers a useful starting point for this discussion. The club won the 2025-26 Roshn Saudi League title with a 4-1 win over Damac on the final day of the season, its first league championship since 2018-19, according to the league’s own report.

What interests me most is the wider question this achievement opens up. Trophies create memorable moments, and high-profile signings raise the level of competition. Long-term performance, however, depends on an organisation’s ability to renew itself. Players eventually move on, coaches change, and results fluctuate. A club that invests in talent, develops its people, and maintains a clear direction has a stronger foundation for sustained competitiveness.

The strategic question, then, is how clubs can turn current success into capabilities that last.

Saudi football development: investing in the system

One development worth watching is the Saudi Arabian Football Federation’s club academy development initiative. Announced at a clubs forum in Riyadh in September 2026, it targets 68 clubs across the Roshn Saudi League and the first and second divisions, and is being delivered with Double Pass, a Belgian company that specialises in academy development.

The scope is significant. The work starts from international benchmarks, an assessment of where each academy stands today, and a set of unified standards. The stated aims include helping each club define its priorities and develop its own methodology, and strengthening the route from academy to first team. The initiative also offers clubs incentives linked to the quality and productivity of their work, along with benefits related to player transfers.

The initiative runs in three assessment cycles through 2030. The first begins in the 2026-27 season and covers all 68 academies, while the second and third track progress, reassess, and measure development against the targets. This gives clubs a framework to understand their needs, identify gaps, and work towards improvement through more structured plans.

To me, the importance of this approach lies in treating talent development as an institutional responsibility. Finding a talented young player is only the beginning. Turning potential into professional performance requires qualified coaches, suitable development programmes, a supportive environment, clear progression standards, and genuine opportunities to compete at higher levels.

This is a direction worth supporting. It places people, capabilities, and systems at the centre of development, while giving clubs an opportunity to build local expertise and more professional operating models.

Sports leadership starts long before kick-off

When people discuss leadership in football clubs, attention often goes straight to the head coach, the most visible figure around the team. In practice, sporting leadership operates across the entire organisation, and each level influences the quality of decisions and results.

The board sets strategic direction and priorities. Executive management translates those priorities into plans and resources. The sporting department turns the vision into technical decisions, while coaches develop players and team performance. Their work is supported by specialists in performance, sports medicine, analysis, marketing, and fan experience.

The challenge is getting these functions to work towards a shared vision. A club may have a promising academy, yet need stronger links between youth development and the first team. It may recruit experienced coaches while still needing to invest in local coaching capability. It may announce an ambitious strategy but lack clear performance measures to track progress and revisit decisions.

One of the most important responsibilities of sports leadership is therefore to connect strategy, resources, people, and everyday decisions. Effective leadership creates an environment in which people understand their roles and teams can see how their work contributes to the club’s objectives.

Developing a professional player means developing a person

It is easy to reduce player development to technical ability and physical fitness, especially when match results dominate performance discussions. Yet professional players need a broader set of capabilities that develop throughout their careers.

Decision-making under pressure, communication with teammates, time management, accountability, handling competition, responding to feedback, and learning from mistakes all shape a player’s progress on and off the pitch.

These capabilities require a learning and training environment that starts in the early age groups and continues as players move to higher levels. Coaches need to understand individual differences, give useful feedback, build confidence, reinforce discipline, and recognise that each player is on a continuing learning journey.

This is why investment in coaches matters so much. Every serious conversation about developing players should include an equally serious conversation about developing the people responsible for coaching and guiding them. An academy’s quality is closely connected to the capability of its staff, the effectiveness of its programmes, and its ability to turn knowledge into daily practice.

Building a new generation of professional players therefore also means developing coaches, leaders, and specialists who can manage talent pathways.

Five foundations for a talent-producing football system

Arab clubs can draw on several management principles as they work towards more professional and sustainable operating models. The right approach will differ according to each club’s context, resources, and priorities.

1. A long-term vision that goes beyond one season

Clubs need to define the type of players they want to develop, the football identity they want to build, and the measures they will use to assess progress. A clear direction helps leaders make consistent decisions and gives academies and technical teams a shared purpose.

2. Investment in identifying and developing talent

Identifying a talented player is the start of the journey. Development requires a clear pathway from the early age groups to the first team, supported by appropriate technical and educational standards, progressive training programmes, and meaningful opportunities to participate and compete.

3. Developing the people who work with players

Investment in coaches, analysts, performance specialists, and administrators should be part of the club’s development strategy. The people who work with players every day have a direct influence on the quality of the sporting environment and the progress an academy can achieve.

4. A culture of learning and accountability

Professionalism is visible in everyday behaviour: respecting time, taking responsibility, collaborating, learning continuously, and responding constructively to success and setbacks. A strong organisational culture gives people clear standards and helps them understand their responsibilities to the team and the institution.

5. Measuring outcomes and reviewing progress

The number of academy registrations or training hours alone cannot demonstrate whether a development programme is working. Clubs should monitor player progression, coaching quality, movement into higher teams, sustained participation, and the growth of staff capabilities. These indicators give leaders a more accurate view of their investment and help them improve decisions.

The opportunity for Arab football is bigger than signing stars

I believe the transformation taking place in Saudi football creates an important opportunity for the wider region. Higher levels of competition, investment in sporting infrastructure, international expertise, and academy development can all contribute to a more mature football environment.

The greatest opportunity emerges when investment translates into local capabilities, opportunities for young players, stronger technical and management expertise, and institutions that can learn and renew themselves. At that point, the impact reaches beyond the league table or the results of individual clubs.

This direction can also inspire Arab clubs working with very different resources. Each club can set priorities and build a development model that fits its reality. It might begin with a small academy, a coach-development programme, better talent identification, or partnerships with educational and sporting institutions. What matters is connecting these initiatives to a coherent vision and turning them into consistent practices whose impact can be assessed.

That kind of progress requires institutional patience. Developing a professional player takes years. Building a new sporting culture requires consistency, while developing capabilities demands investment and follow-through. Maintaining direction and reviewing progress regularly are essential to achieving meaningful results.

Who will win the future?

Investing in star players brings exceptional moments, raises the level of competition, and attracts attention. Investing in the system gives clubs the ability to sustain performance, renew their talent, develop their people, and create sporting value that extends beyond the names in the current squad.

I believe the success of football development initiatives should be assessed through a wider set of indicators: the talent that has progressed, the professionals who have gained new capabilities, the opportunities created for young players, and the ability of clubs to develop players who can compete at the highest levels.

The Saudi club academy development initiative is an important step in this direction and deserves attention and support as it progresses. Its lasting value will depend on its ability to turn assessments and plans into tangible changes inside clubs, and to create environments where local talent can reach its potential.

Perhaps the most important question for every Arab club board is this: what are we building inside our organisation today so that, five years from now, we have a new generation of players capable of competing?

Sources

Sources are cited as published. The Al Riyadiyah report is in Arabic, and the Saudi Pro League report is in English.