Saudi Pro League in chaos as Saudi Arabian football has exploded into one of the biggest refereeing scandals in the history of the Saudi Pro League and Cristiano Ronaldo's name is right at the centre of it. After Al-Ahli Saudi FC were held on a 1-1 draw against Al-Fayha, the club's players made allegations so serious that they have sent shockwaves through global football. A referee allegedly told an Al-Ahli player to focus on the Asian Champions League instead of the title race. Three penalty claims were denied. The club has demanded VAR recordings be made public. And Galeno has effectively accused the entire league of wanting to hand the trophy to Ronaldo. The question is can this allegations be proven, do they have evidence to backthos claim? With seven matches remaining and everything still to play for, Saudi football is still in crisis.
Al-Ahli, sitting third in the Saudi Pro League standings with 66 points, faced Al-Fayha in what should have been a routine win for a title-chasing side. Instead the match descended into chaos. Al-Ahli took the lead through Ivan Toney's goal, a goal that equalled Omar Al-Somah's single-season scoring record for the club but Al-Fayha levelled in the 53rd minute through Jason to make it 1-1. The final whistle left Al-Ahli four points behind Al-Nassr with a game in hand still to play.
But the scoreline wasn't what dominated the post-match conversation. Three separate penalty incidents went against Al-Ahli. Two of them were reviewed by VAR and wasn't overturned. The third a handball in the box in the 97th minute wasn't even sent to VAR for review. Refereeing experts and analysts who reviewed the footage subsequently concluded that Al-Ahli should have been awarded at least one of the three penalties. Former Saudi international Sami Al-Jaber, speaking on the Saudi programme "Nadina," said bluntly: "Al-Ahli were treated unfairly and the referee failed to apply the rules."
Ivan Toney a former Brentford striker who currently leads both Ronaldo and Julian Quinones in the Saudi Golden Boot standings with 27 league goals didn't hold back in his post-match comments. His revelation about what a match official told him on the pitch has become the most explosive moment of the entire controversy.
"I don't know if the referee turned off his microphone before he said what he told me," Toney said in his post-match interview. "'Focus on the Asian Champions League.' That is why we need the audio recordings to be released, so the fans can see the truth." Al-Ahli's German coach Matthias Jaissle confirmed the same account, what am not sure of is if the referee used same words on the head coach, that the referee had urged their players to forget about the league and focus on the AFC Champions League instead.
Toney also went public on Instagram with video clips of all three penalty incidents, describing the refereeing as "crazy." He wrote: "2 of these actions went to VAR and one didn't. It's actually crazy how you can miss things like this in crucial moments or choose to turn a blind eye." He added pointedly: "I guess I'm probably the bad guy for speaking some truths and pointing out questionable decisions or refereeing." When asked in the post-match interview which team the refereeing decisions appeared to benefit, Toney was direct: "The team we're chasing." Al-Nassr. Ronaldo's team Toney response in an open direct question.
Brazilian winger Galeno, Toney's teammate at Al-Ahli, took the allegations further on X formerly Twitter in a post that has since been translated and shared globally. "They might as well just hand them the trophy already it's obvious what they want," Galeno posted. In a longer statement in Portuguese, he went further: "They want to knock us out of the championship by any means necessary. They want to give the trophy to one person. A total lack of respect for our club" he said in a tweet.
While Galeno stopped short of naming Ronaldo directly, the reference to "one specific person" and "one person" was interpreted universally across football social media as a reference to the Portuguese superstar. The post generated enormous engagement globally and dragged the controversy beyond Saudi Arabia into international football discourse.
Former Al-Ahli player Riyad Mahrez — who played the full 90 minutes alongside Toney responded to the club's official statement on social media with a speaking head emoji, a gesture widely interpreted as a subtle endorsement of the club's position without making direct allegations himself, The comments simply means "we the players are behind the statement from our team".
Al-Ahli Saudi FC released a formal official statement shortly after the final whistle that was among the most strongly worded club communications in recent Saudi football history. The statement expressed "deep dissatisfaction with the refereeing errors that affected today's match" and stated that such decisions "had a direct impact on the flow of the game and it's final outcome" and "affected the team's position in the title race."
The club then made a formal demand that has enormous implications for the league's governance. Al-Ahli called for access to the recordings and communications between the referees and the VAR team, as well as their interactions with the players during the match. The club also demanded clear explanations for all refereeing incidents where decisions weren't correctly applied such errors raise legitimate concerns regarding the referee selection process and the criterias applied, particularly given the high technical and competitive level of the Saudi Roshn League," the statement read.
One of the most intriguing and complicated aspects of this entire controversy is the fact that Sports Illustrated especially highlighted Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund holds a majority stake in all three clubs currently battling for the Pro League title. Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal and Al-Ahli are all majority-owned by the same sovereign wealth fund. This creates an unusual situation where the entity with the most interest in the league's commercial success and global profile has a financial stake in all three title challengers.
The question this raises isn't necessarily one of deliberate conspiracy but of perception, when a referee appears to make decisions that benefit one PIF club over another PIF club, and when players from the disadvantage club are told to focus on other competitions, the credibility of the entire league is put under a microscope in a way that Saudi football can still be seen as it tries to establish itself as a serious global competition.
Al-Ahli's players aren't the only football club complaining about the frustration. Al-Hilal is currently second on 68 points were also held to a 2-2 draw against Al-Taawoun on Saturday, and their players reacted with similar fury about the refereeing. Ruben Neves, the Hilal midfielder who is also a Portugal international and Ronaldo's national team teammate, produced a clip on his phone in the mixed zone as evidence of a foul at a crucial stage of the game. Even Al-Hilal is the club of Karim Benzema, who scored a hat-trick in a subsequent 6-0 demolition of Al-Kholood believed the title race has been compromised by officiating decisions bu referees.
Sami Al-Jaber has called for the Saudi Arabian Football Federation's Referees' Committee to open an investigative panel towards this allegation. "The referee's mistake regarding the penalty can't be overlooked, and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation must resolve the matter," he said. "Joking aside, no matter what the fans tweets, Al-Ahli were treated unfairly and the referee must be punished if found guilty." at last
With seven matches remaining in the Saudi Pro League season, the standings are as follows. Al-Nassr lead on 70 points. Al-Hilal are second on 68 points within two points of Al-Nassr following Benzema's hat-trick. Al-Ahli are third on 66 points, four behind the leaders. Crucially, there are direct clashes between the top teams still to come in the next three weeks, meaning every dropped point and every refereeing decision in those fixtures will be scrutinised with even greater intensity than Wednesday's match.
For Ronaldo, this is both a moment of potential triumph and enormous reputational complexity. He has not won the Saudi Pro League title in his three seasons with Al-Nassr. This is his closest chance yet. But the problem surrounding him from winning the title is this allegations from rivals football club especially Al hilal that are demanding for VAR recordings, the on-pitch comments from a referee mean that any Al-Nassr championship this season will be viewed by a controversy that will not simply disappear.
Make we make one thing clear here there is nobody wey don prove say Ronaldo or Al-Nassr do anything wrong. Ronaldo himself no dey involved in referee decisions. Na the league and the officiating wey dey under scrutiny, no be CR7 personally.
But when players dey say referee tell them to "focus on the Asian Champions League" that one na extraordinary allegation. When the club dey demand VAR recordings that na serious matter and need urgent investigation. When Galeno dey say "hand them the trophy already" Saudi football don have a credibility problem that seven matches go not easily fix.
If Ronaldo win this league now, the question people go dey ask be say did he really win it or did the League officials carry the title give am for hand. That one go be bad talk for person wey don work and spent his entire career working hard to be recognised as the greatest on merit alone.
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Sources:Goal.com