Season 1 |
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Episode Guide
A New Dawn
Stepping Up
A Fight For Legacy
Under Pressure
Call It A Comeback
Final Whistle
The Saudi Pro League was founded in 2008 and since then, the league has been growing in stature and influence the world over. Saudi Pro League: Kickoff is the latest Netflix sport docu-series and aims to shed a spotlight on the Saudi league, complete with a smattering of big stars, lots of press coverage… and very few people in attendance. But of course, you wouldn’t guess it from watching this six part glossy series.
As one may expect, this is very much an advertising campaign to shine a spotlight on the league and combat what many fans are calling out as a money grab and Saudi-washing. To counteract that sentiment, the documentary points out how some clubs are over 80 years old and the league has no financial fair play rules so the transfer window can splash out £900 million. Well, I’m convinced!
The episodes themselves are mostly focused on the superstars rather than the collective club as a whole, although to be fair some episodes – like episode 2 – do expand and showcase the club’s history in the Saudi league. However, there’s a very specific, deliberate way of showcasing the history here, and you can tell there’s a lot of work done with the editing (which we’ll circle back to later) to reinforce this.
This focus jumps between different superstars and managers, ranging from former great players like Steven Gerrard making the jump to managerial level, and big stars like Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo. Oh, and Jordan Henderson is here too.
This focus though is amusingly what’s wrong with the Saudi league as a whole, and this documentary doesn’t even realize the irony of it. With such an intense focus on the superstars and highlighting some of the big matches, there’s not much room to interview locals and get a feel for the footballing culture in the country. We get a small snippet of grassroots level drama with a tiny spotlight on the Saudi’s women’s league, attracting foreigners into the league, but it all feels very sanitized and safe. There aren’t really many critics here for this one, and if there are, they’re reduced to little snippets from a larger discussion on TalkSport or Sky Sports News.
How do the locals feel about the league? How about women’s football and females coming into the game? What is it like during game-day in the local towns? Does business pick up? And what is the league doing to combat the dwindling interest and failing attendance levels? Don’t worry guys, you’ll get absolutely none of that here because here’s another Cristiano Ronaldo worldie.
The attendance is a big one though and it’s something that’s glossed over and never really addressed. This is quite odd to be honest because oftentimes during game-day, the camera will pan across and show a snippet of the crowd but you can clearly see big gaps in the number of people at each game. This is especially prevalent when you slow the frames down, and the show has been edited very carefully to try and avoid too much attention on this. Personally, I would have liked a little more scrutiny and development around this, rather than pussyfooting away the truth, especially as there’s a section surrounding Saudi’s bid for the World Cup.
There are some good moments in here though, including seeing Ronaldo’s influence on the dressing room and inspiring the kids, while the focus shifting to contrasting fates for each team in the league is a definite highlight. It’s always fascinating to see a team struggling and how the backroom drama affects gameday – both positively and negatively. This has all the bells and whistles that other sport docu-series have, but nowhere near the same level of pizzazz needed to make for an exciting, riveting watch.
Whatever you think of the Saudi Pro League – both negative or positive or – Netflix’s series is unlikely to change how you feel about it. This is a light, breezy documentary that’s here to serve as an advertisement for the league. It’s absolutely fine to watch but certainly nowhere near as good as other documentaries of its kind.
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Verdict - 6/10
6/10