The Saudi Pro League (SPL), also known as the Roshn Saudi League for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football league in Saudi Arabia, recognized as the premier football competition in Asia. Established in 1976, it features 18 clubs competing in a round-robin format from August to May, with the champion earning a title and qualification for the AFC Champions League Elite, while the bottom three teams face relegation. The league has a rich history, evolving from regional tournaments and the King’s Cup to a fully professional system since 2007, with Al-Hilal holding a record 19 titles.
Since 2023, the SPL has gained global attention due to significant investments from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which acquired 75% stakes in top clubs Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad, and Al-Ahli as part of the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative. This financial backing has attracted world-class stars, starting with **Cristiano Ronaldo**, whose 2023 move to Al-Nassr sparked a “revolution” in Asian football. Other prominent players include **Neymar** (Al-Hilal), **Karim Benzema** (Al-Ittihad), **Sadio Mané** (Al-Nassr), **Riyad Mahrez** (Al-Ahli), **N’Golo Kanté** (Al-Ittihad), **Rúben Neves** (Al-Hilal), and **Allan Saint-Maximin** (Al-Ahli), significantly boosting the league’s profile.
The 2024-25 season saw Al-Ittihad as the reigning champions, with Al-Hilal dominating historically. Recent highlights include Al-Hilal’s unbeaten 2023-24 season and Ronaldo’s record-breaking 35 goals, earning him the Golden Boot. The league recorded 909 goals in 2023-24, a 40% increase from the previous season, reflecting its growing competitiveness. However, challenges remain, such as concerns over the league’s two-tier structure due to uneven investment and the reliance on veteran stars, with some like Benzema facing speculation about potential exits.
With passionate fan support, vibrant tifos, and increasing global broadcasts, the SPL aims to be among the world’s top leagues by 2030, leveraging its star power and infrastructure development ahead of the 2034 World Cup.
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First, the user says: "If the article excerpt doesn't exist, write a 200 bytes article excerpt based on the article 'Vini Jr isn't untouchable! Real Madrid ready to sanction transfer IF eye-watering €250m valuation is met as Los Blancos look to capitalise on Saudi riches'. Just output the article excerpt, don't output the AI prompt."
But then, they provide an actual article excerpt: "Vinicius Junior is no longer "untouchable" at Real Madrid, according to reports, with Los Blancos prepared to sanction a sale if the right offer arrives. That deal would need to smash all kinds of records, with the Spanish giants demanding €250 million (£217m/$290m) for their Brazil international forward. Few teams can afford to meet that asking price, but big-spending sides in the Saudi Pro League could."
And they instruct: "Rewrite the following article excerpt to make it more appealing while keeping the HTML markup unchanged. Edit only the visible content in the HTML that is rendered and displayed on the front-end, and output only the modified excerpt. Article excerpts only need to be one paragraph long and should not exceed 200 bytes."
The original excerpt is already given, so I need to rewrite it, not create a new one from scratch.
Key instructions:
- Make it more appealing.
- Keep the HTML markup unchanged.
- Edit only the visible content.
- Output only the modified excerpt.
- The excerpt should be one paragraph long and not exceed 200 bytes.
The provided excerpt doesn't have explicit HTML markup; it's just text with HTML entities like " for quotes. But the user says "keeping the HTML markup unchanged," so perhaps the excerpt is embedded in some HTML, but in the message, it's plain text.
Looking closely: "Vinicius Junior is no longer "untouchable" at Real Madrid, according to reports, with Los Blancos prepared to sanction a sale if the right offer arrives. That deal would need to smash all kinds of records, with the Spanish giants demanding €250 million (£217m/$290m) for their Brazil international forward. Few teams can afford to meet that asking price, but big-spending sides in the Saudi Pro League could."
This is probably meant to be the content inside some HTML tags, but since it's not specified, I should treat the text as is and make it more appealing.
The user says: "output only the modified excerpt." And earlier, "Article excerpts only need to be one paragraph long and should not exceed 200 bytes."
200 bytes is very short. Let me check the length of the original:
The original text is about 300-400 characters, which is more than 200 bytes. I need to ensure the rewritten version is <= 200 bytes.
One paragraph, so I have to condense it.
To make it more appealing: I need to make it more engaging, perhaps more exciting or sensational, while keeping the facts.
Steps:
1. Rewrite the content to be more appealing.
2. Keep it to one paragraph.
3. Ensure it's under 200 bytes.
4. Output only the modified excerpt, without any additional text.
What is "HTML markup unchanged"? The original text has ", which is an HTML entity. I need to preserve that or any other markup. But since it's all text, I just need to rewrite the text inside.
Perhaps the excerpt is something like:
Vinicius Junior is no longer "untouchable" at Real Madrid, according to reports, with Los Blancos prepared to sanction a sale if the right offer arrives. That deal would need to smash all kinds of records, with the Spanish giants demanding €250 million (£217m/$290m) for their Brazil international forward. Few teams can afford to meet that asking price, but big-spending sides in the Saudi Pro League could.
I need to edit only the visible content, so replace the text inside the tags, but keep the tags.
The user says: "output only the modified excerpt," and "don't output the AI prompt," so probably just the text.
In the initial part, they say to output the article excerpt, so I think just the rewritten paragraph.
First, let's count the bytes of the original to understand.
Original text: "Vinicius Junior is no longer "untouchable" at Real Madrid, according to reports, with Los Blancos prepared to sanction a sale if the right offer arrives. That deal would need to smash all kinds of records, with the Spanish giants demanding €250 million (£217m/$290m) for their Brazil international forward. Few teams can afford to meet that asking price, but big-spending sides in the Saudi Pro League could."
Let's estimate: This is roughly 350 characters, and since most are ASCII, about 350 bytes. So, I need to cut it down.
Rewritten version must be <= 200 bytes.
Make it more appealing: Use more dramatic language, shorter sentences, exciting words.
Key points:
- Vinicius Junior is not untouchable at Real Madrid.
- Real Madrid might sell him for €250 million.
- Saudi clubs could afford it.
Rewritten idea: "Real Madrid is open to selling star forward Vinicius Junior for a staggering €250 million! The Brazilian talent, once deemed untouchable, could be on the move if Saudi Pro League teams meet the price."
Now, check length.
Let me write a draft:
"Real Madrid might let go of Vinicius Junior for an eye-watering €250 million! The Brazilian star is up for grabs if Saudi clubs pay up, making headlines in the transfer market."
Count bytes: Let's type it out.
"Real Madrid might let go of Vinicius Junior for an eye-watering €250 million! The Brazilian star is up for grabs if Saudi clubs pay up, making headlines in the transfer market."
Character count: Approximately 120 characters, so under 200 bytes.
Include the quotes: In the original, there are ", so if I have quotes, I need to use ".
In my draft, I don't have quotes around words, but the original has "untouchable".
I need to keep that if it's part of the visible content.
The original has: "no longer "untouchable""
In the rewritten version, if I use "untouchable", I should probably keep it as "untouchable" to maintain the HTML entity.
The user says: "Edit only the visible content in the HTML that is rendered and displayed on the front-end"
Visible content would be the rendered text, so "untouchable" instead of "untouchable".
This is confusing. Probably, in the output, I should output the text as it would be rendered, with entities if necessary, but since the user said "keeping the HTML markup unchanged," I think I need to output the text with the entities as in the original.
To simplify, perhaps just rewrite the text and use entities where appropriate.
For safety, I'll assume that if the original has ", I should use it in the same way.
In my rewritten version, if I need quotes, I'll use ".
In my draft: "Real Madrid might let go of Vinicius Junior for an eye-watering
Pepe, the iconic defender, champions Cristiano Ronaldo to thrive for "many more years", declaring the 40-year-old a record-breaker who defies time. As his former Real Madrid and Portugal ally, Pepe urges fans to cherish the five-time Ballon d'Or legend, whose legendary impact endures
