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Fortune
Fortune
Prarthana Prakash

Saudi Arabia has gone so soccer crazy that it spent $875 million to buy top players—more than any European country except England

cristiano ronaldo standing with his hand up (Credit: Mohammed Saad—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

A year ago, Saudi Arabia would hardly have sprung to mind when listing the countries whose soccer leagues were most likely to snap up A-list players.

But now, the nation is forking out hundreds of millions of dollars on soccer stars to make its presence known in the sport—and it's spending so much that most European teams can't compete.

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