Prince Sultan bin Fahd bin Abdul Aziz inaugurates The new logo of the Zain Saudi Arabia Football League

The new logo of the Zain Saudi Arabia Professional Football League was unveiled at a ceremony in Riyadh on October 11, hosted by HRH Prince Sultan bin Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, President General of Youth Welfare and Chairman of the Saudi Football Association.

Present was HRH Prince Nawaf Bin Faisal Bin Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz, Vice President of Youth Welfare, Vice President of the Saudi Football Association and head of the Saudi Professional Football League Commission and a host of Saudi football stars, including Saleh Khalifa , Hamza Idris, Mohamed Abdul Jawad, Yusuf Al-Thenayan and Majid Abdullah.

Addressing the audience, HRH Hussam bin Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Chairman of Zain Saudi Arabia, said that the creation of the Zain Saudi Professional Football League was a big leap for Saudi Arabian sports and a milestone in the history of Zain in the Kingdom. “Even before the launch of our commercial services, we had already sponsored the Saudi national soccer teams,” he reminded the audience. The decision to sponsor the Saudi football league – ranked 16th in the world, 2nd in Asia and 1st in the Middle East – was, he said, “borne out of a belief in the vital importance of sport in Saudi society”.

The logo for the new league was unveiled by Prince Sultan, who is responsible for the development of human resources in sport. Already the Saudi Professional Football League Commission has sent young talent on special European courses, such as the FIFA Master program, which has places for just 30 youths – three of whom are Saudi – picked from around the world. 

In organizational terms, Prince Sultan explained that the Commission also seeks to develop the administrative and financial systems within the Saudi football sector. Clubs are now obliged to register their brand, while key tasks such accounting, budget preparation and financial flows are being contracted to outside parties as part of an overall five-year plan ending in 2013.

He also said that the Commission is working to create a high-quality technical environment in which fans can purchase tickets via the Internet and enter stadia through electronic gates (the first in the region). All this is part of a program to ensure that stadia in the Kingdom are of a world class standard. Finally, the Saudi Professional Football League Commission has opened the first Saudi e-store to sell products bearing the logo of the Commission, as well as the logos of Saudi football clubs, as part of an initiative to ensure that the minimum income for any given Saudi club amounts to 15 million riyals (US$ 4 million) each season.

On this note, Prince Nawaf declared that most important financial step taken so far by Saudi soccer has been the sponsorship deal with Zain, a brand whose values tie in exactly with the bold aspirations of sport in the Kingdom. He said the move would see revenues spent on creating a new Saudi football environment, one capable of attracting investment, supporting profession growth and elevating the overall standard of football in Saudi Arabia.

 
11/10/2009