Saudi Pro League Ranked 27th on Opta’s Power Rankings, Triggering Debate Over Changes in the SPL
Cristiano Ronaldo made headlines with his comments to the Dubai Globe Soccer Awards, claiming that the Saudi Pro League is better than France’s Ligue 1.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner said: “To be honest, I think the Saudi League is not worse than the French League, in my opinion. In [the] French league, I think you have two or three teams with a good level. In Saudi now, I think it’s more competitive.
“They can say whatever they want, it’s just my opinion. I played there one year so I know what I’m talking about. But I think right now we are better than [the] French league, we still improve.”
This was a bold statement from one of the very best players in the world, that has played in the Portuguese Primeira Liga, the English Premier League, and Spain’s La Liga.
However, Opta’s Power Rankings do not support Cristiano Ronaldo’s assessment. Instead, The Saudi Pro League is ranked 27th, with Ligue 1 ranked fifth, and even America’s Major League Soccer (MLS) outranks the SPL.
The full list, first published in October 2023, is as follows.
- English Premier League 87.66
- German Bundesliga 84.04
- Italian Serie A 83.46
- Spanish La Liga 83.43
- French Ligue 1 81.41
- English Championship 78.58
- Dutch Eredivisie 77.24
- Portuguese Primeira Liga 77.20
- Belgian Pro League 77.19
- Brazilian Serie A 76.43
- Swiss Super League 75.72
- Turkish Super Lig 75.65
- Russian Premier Liga 75.08
- Danish Superliga 75.00
- MLS 74.77
- Austrian Bundesliga 74.76
- Spanish La Liga 2 74.42
- Polish Ekstraklasa 73.88
- Argentine Liga Professional 73.66
- German 2. Bundesliga 73.62
- Croatian HNL 73.45
- Mexican Liga MX 73.20
- Cypriot First Division 72.47
- Swedish Allsvenskan 72.30
- Japanese J1 League 72.16
- South Korean K League 1 72.09
- Saudi Pro League 71.94
- Israeli Premier League 71.56
- Romanian Liga I 71.40
- Norwegian Eliteserien 71.33
