English Premier League
Al Hilal unveil state-of-the-art training centre after Ronaldo’s Manchester United criticism
Al Hilal have opened a new first-team training complex in Riyadh featuring facilities that address the type of infrastructure Cristiano Ronaldo criticised at Manchester United before leaving the Premier League for Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi club held an inauguration ceremony on Friday for the Al Majdiah Sports Centre, located at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University in the Saudi capital. The facility is intended to strengthen Al Hilal’s infrastructure and provide the first-team squad with a fully professional environment designed to improve performance and match leading international standards in athlete preparation and recovery.
The centre covers more than 56,000 square metres and includes two grass pitches, an integrated sports performance centre and specialist recovery facilities.
It also contains a medical clinic, meeting and lecture rooms, and a range of supporting facilities for the team’s technical, physical and medical work. The complex includes a hotel camp, administrative headquarters and a media centre.
The launch comes three and a half years after Ronaldo’s high-profile decision to leave Manchester United and begin a new chapter in Saudi Arabia with Al-Nassr.
In November 2022, the Portugal forward, now Al-Nassr captain, gave an explosive interview to broadcaster Piers Morgan in which he criticised Manchester United. The interview ultimately resulted in the termination of his contract with the English club.
Among Ronaldo’s complaints was the poor condition of Manchester United’s facilities. He subsequently left the Premier League altogether and moved to Saudi Arabia, beginning what has become a significant chapter in the country’s football history.
Al Hilal’s new centre now offers the kind of advanced infrastructure Ronaldo had wanted to see at Manchester United, although it is located at the headquarters of the club’s traditional rivals in Riyadh.
Images released by Al Hilal showed a mural displaying every major honour won by the first team throughout the club’s history, alongside a separate display featuring photographs from those triumphs. The centre also includes a swimming pool and a fitness gym.
The club said the complex includes technologies being used for the first time by football clubs in Saudi Arabia. Among them are a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, an anti-gravity treadmill, a traditional sauna equipped with Himalayan salt and red-light recovery equipment.
A hypoxic training room is also part of the centre. It allows the club to recreate different altitudes and weather conditions by adjusting oxygen levels, temperature and humidity. That will enable Al Hilal to run training programmes designed to simulate a variety of environments and climates.
Al Hilal’s first team will train at the new complex for the first time on Friday. It will be their first session in Riyadh since returning from an overseas training camp in Austria.
The club will begin its new season next Friday when it faces Al-Faisaly in the opening round of the Roshn Saudi League.
