THE Saudi Pro League have made several big changes for the 2024-25 campaign including the introduction of ‘Magic Rounds’.
The new season gets underway with three matches on Thursday, including Cristiano Ronaldo‘s Al-Nassr taking on Al-Raed.
The league have introduced several new rules in a bid to boost young Saudi talent and make the competition more exciting.
A key new addition is the introduction of ‘Magic Rounds’ in gameweeks nine and 26 which will see a number of local derbies take place across the league.
That will include champions Al-Hilal taking on last season’s runners-up Al-Nassr, while Al-Ittihad face Al Ahli and Steven Gerrard‘s Al-Ettifaq play Al-Qadsiah.
In a bid to boost Saudi talent, matchday squads of 20 must include at least 11 Saudi players.
But squad sizes have been reduced from 30 players to 25, despite the allowance for foreign players increasing by two from eight to 10.
Despite the increase, Saudi clubs have brought in less players from Europe this season with former Real Madrid captain Nacho perhaps the biggest capture.
However, Gerrard believes there have been some clever acquisitions and he is excited by the prospect of ‘Magic Rounds’.
He said ahead of the new campaign: “You can already see things have gone up a notch with the league, not just in the quality of the teams but how the league are going about things.
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“We’re really looking forward to the new derby weekends, which I think will give those fixtures an added edge and
“I think some of the transfers in and out across the league are really smart.”
