Could the Saudis buy the Champions League?! Oil-rich state tipped to create new worldwide Super League as financial experts reveal their 'outrageous prediction' for 2024 - but two of them have come true before!

The Saudi Pro League is gradually emerging as a new footballing superpower, having been able to attract a host of star names to the Middle East over the past year. Cristiano Ronaldo started the trend when he joined Al-Nassr after leaving Manchester United last November, with the likes of Karim Benzema, Neymar, N'Golo Kante, Roberto Firmino and Jordan Henderson treading the same path in the summer transfer window.

The rapid rise of the Saudi Pro League has led to suggestions that the division's top teams could one day play in Europe's flagship Champions League competition. However, Ole Hansen and Kim Cramer Larsson, who work for Danish investment bank Saxo in respective head of commodity strategy and technical analyst roles, have gone a step further by suggesting that a Saudi Arabian consortium could purchase the entire Champions League franchise in the near future, on the back of an unprecedented surge in crude oil prices.

Such a move could then see Saudi officials push for the creation of a worldwide 'Super League', as Hansen and Cramer Larsson wrote in their annual 'Outrageous Predictions' article for Saxo: “Saudi Arabia’s radical restructuring of its economy away from its dependency on oil revenues towards becoming a tourism, leisure and entertainment powerhouse, receives an added boost from a meteoric rise in oil prices, which reach $150 (£118) per barrel around mid-year on stronger-than-expected demand, as the green transformation begins to sputter amid rising costs, and after OPEC+ oil, led by Saudi Arabia, maintains a firm grip on supply. In recent years, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a known football enthusiast, has overseen the revamping of the Saudi Pro League, with a focus on improved on-pitch performance through the acquisition of world-class players in order to become one of the top 10 football leagues in the world. However, with oil revenues surging, MBS sees an excellent opportunity to go one step further and, backed by FIFA, the Kingdom launches a successful attempt to buy the UEFA Champions League, one of the world’s most prestigious football tournaments.

"Now holding the keys to the cherished football competition, the Saudis immediately move to transform it into a global club competition that FIFA, despite offering prize money of $150 million (£119m), had tried but failed to establish amid resistance from UEFA and the European Club Association, and not least the biggest clubs in Europe, fearing risk of players’ fatigue. However, with the Saudi takeover, the new offer reaches a level where the big clubs cannot say no, especially after being offered money for all 220 leading clubs under the European Club Association umbrella. A FIFA World Champions League becomes a reality, with a considerable number of games being played in Riyadh. The new competition ends up consisting of 48 teams, with European clubs just like the current UEFA Champions League format being guaranteed 32 spots, Asia/Middle East, Africa, and the Americas getting five spots each in the tournament, and the remaining going to Oceania.”

The financial gurus have also claimed that Manchester United could be one of the top European clubs to benefit financially if the Saudis are indeed able to complete a full purchase of the Champions League in the coming years. “As a result of this takeover, the effect on the market would see Manchester United’s stock price doubled as Brent crude oil rises to $150 (£118) per barrel," Hansen and Cramer Larsson added.

Saxo's Champions League vision may seem farfetched at this stage, but they have an impressive track record when it comes to their bold predictions. They correctly forecasted Brexit in 2015 and predicted that cryptocurrencies rates would skyrocket in 2017, though no timeframe has been given for the Saudis' possible foray into European football.