Xhaka announced at the club of a city that does not exist

After being referred to Italy by the Italian press, Granit Xhaka is now on his way to Saudi Arabia and Neom SC, which has just been promoted to the Saudi Arabian Premier League. The club was bought by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund (PIF). But the city where he is to play has not yet been built.

Before being a football club, Neom is a futuristic real estate project located on the shores of the Red Sea. The ruling power wants to develop this desert area. The new city that is to be built will take the form of a strip 200 m wide and 2.4 km long (in the initial plans, it was 170 km!). It will include a ski resort in preparation for the Asian Winter Games, which the Kingdom will host in 2029.

Neom SC doesn't yet have a home. It plays its home matches 150 kilometers from its future base in Tabuk. It's awaiting construction of its future stadium (46,000 seats), which is expected to fly somewhere in the sky... 350 meters above the ground, and be one of the venues selected for the 2034 World Cup.

Despite this, the club has been very aggressive this summer in the transfer market and has made no secret of its desire to shake up the league's top teams, Al Ittihad, Al Hilal and Al Nassr, who made up the top three in the Saudi Pro League and who also belong to the PIF.

He has drawn heavily on the French talent pool, with the arrivals of coach Christophe Galtier, star Alexandre Lacazette, and goalkeeper Marcin Bulka (ex-Nice). Former Lyon player Saïd Benrahma, who contributed to Neom's promotion to the top flight, will also continue the adventure. Granit Xhaka is already 32 years old, and it's unclear whether he'll still be active when the city and stadium of the future emerge from the desert.