beIN Media Group, the global sports and entertainment broadcaster, and its flagship sports channel beIN Sports, announced securing the media rights in the Mena, Turkiye, France, and Asia Pacific to the star-studded Riyadh Season Cup, the three-team exhibition tournament set to feature Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami, Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr, and Saudi Pro League leaders Al Hilal.
The matches will be broadcast live in Mena on beIN Sports’ free to air channel in Arabic, beIN Sports1 English in English, and in Ultra HD on beIN 4K. Messi and Ronaldo are expected to go head-to-head Thursday. On February 8, Al Hilal will face Al-Nassr, whom they lead by seven points at the top of Saudi’s domestic league, a statement said.
Thursday's face-off between Miami and Al-Nassr, being billed as 'The Last Dance,' will pit the two greatest players of the modern era against each other for, possibly, the last time in their professional careers. Messi, 36, and Ronaldo, who will turn 39 on February 5, between them share 13 Ballon D’or awards. They last faced each other a year ago in the inaugural Riyadh Season Cup when Al-Nassr slipped to a 5-4 defeat to Messi’s former club Paris Saint-Germain.
Portuguese Ronaldo, who is expected to recover from a slight calf injury to lead Al-Nassr out at the Kingdom Arena, scored 54 goals in 59 games in 2023 to finish the year as the world’s top goal scorer. Al-Nassr have other star players in their squad, including the likes of Senegalese striker Sadio Mane, Spanish defender Aymeric Laporte, and Croatian midfielder Marcelo Brozovic, the statement added.
