A match with Ronaldo but set a sad 'record', with only... 3,000 spectators

This was the first leg of the AFC Champions League round of 16, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the only goal to help Al Nassr beat Al Feiha 1-0 on February 15 away, to secure their chance to advance before the second leg on February 22.

However, despite Ronaldo's presence, the match still did not attract fans of Al Feiha Club (ranked 14th in the Saudi Pro League, Saudi Arabia) to come and watch. Meanwhile, the away team Al Nassr had about 2,500 fans following and supporting their team, seemingly overwhelming the home team.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) match attendance statistics show that a total of only 3,111 spectators attended. This is considered the match with the lowest attendance in the history of the AFC Champions League.

"Cristiano Ronaldo is playing and look at the crowd. Where is the influence?", wrote one user on social network X. "Is the AFC Champions League and Cristiano Ronaldo's reputation enough to attract viewers?", expressed another user on social network X.

In the Saudi Pro League, although from the 2023-2024 season there will be a series of world -class stars, many matches will still take place without spectators. Fans in Saudi Arabia will only focus on watching at the stadiums of major clubs such as Al Nassr, Al Hilal or Al Ittihad.

Therefore, to create great attraction, the Saudi Pro League needs to have more solutions to attract fans to the stadium. In addition, even Cristiano Ronaldo is not attractive, because his recent bad actions with Al Hilal fans have made a part of Saudi Arabian fans dislike the Portuguese player.