According to the general manager of the Mahd Academy for Talent Development, Lionel Messi reportedly offered to join the Saudi league for four months to prepare for the 2026 World Cup. An offer ultimately rejected by the kingdom's sporting authorities, anxious not to turn their league into a mere training camp.

The revelation is surprising: Saudi Arabia turned down a direct offer from Lionel Messi. "Messi's team contacted me during the Club World Cup last summer. He wanted to play in Saudi Arabia during the four-month hiatus of the American league in order to prepare for the 2026 World Cup," Abdallah Hammad revealed in a podcast on the Saudi media outlet Thmanya. The Saudi executive even drew a parallel with a famous precedent: "The same thing happened with Beckham when he was playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy and went to play for Milan."

At 38, the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner, now playing for Inter Miami, clearly wanted to maintain his competitive edge before what could be his final World Cup. But the proposal was rejected by the Saudi Ministry of Sports. "I submitted the proposal to the minister, but he refused to let Messi come for just four months, and the matter was closed. He said the Saudi league wouldn't be a training camp," Hammad explained.

This decision is all the more remarkable given that the kingdom has continued to attract major figures in football since the signing of Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo to Al-Nassr in early 2023, followed by those of Karim Benzema and Neymar.

Ronaldo, symbol of a national project

The anecdote recounted by Hammad also sheds light on the inner workings of an ambitious sporting project, managed on a national scale. The director of the Mahd Academy also revealed the origins of the arrival of the five-time Ballon d'Or winner from Portugal. "The first contact took place during our trip at the start of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. We spoke with him and his entourage while he was still at Manchester United," he revealed.

Since this transfer, described as "historic," the Saudi Pro League has been transformed, attracting a growing number of European stars. "Ronaldo's signing in Saudi Arabia was a historic transfer that changed the face of the Saudi league," Hammad summarized.

Driven by this momentum, the kingdom is now preparing for the 2034 World Cup, recently awarded to Riyadh, and is displaying a clear ambition to make football a major lever for international influence.