Calcio, a Saudi passion: a tale of Italian love that transcends the boundaries of the pitch
They stayed up into the early hours to follow a match in Italy, memorised the names of the stars and the clubs, and argued over results as if they concerned their own city's teams. This is how a love of the Italian league took hold across generations of fans in Saudi Arabia, before it hardened over the years into a firmly established part of football culture in the Kingdom.
The new documentary "Calcio: A Saudi Passion", presented by stc tv in cooperation with Footballco, charts that journey. It began in front of television screens and grew with the development of technology, the rise of digital platforms and supporters' groups, until the passion for Calcio reached Saudi pitches.
Running for around 20 minutes, the film returns to the years when catching Italian league matches meant a great deal of waiting and searching, when a fan would set the time of the match and prepare to stay up for their favourite team.
Over time, the relationship stretched well beyond simply following matches. Every fan came to have a club they defended, friends who shared their allegiance, and rituals repeated with every round of Calcio.
5 cities that sum up the story
The film moves between Riyadh, Jeddah, Kuwait, Rome and Milan, telling a single story from different angles.
In Saudi Arabia, the camera meets the fans who lived through the beginnings of this passion. In Italy, it returns to the home of the clubs and the championship that created the relationship in the first place.
That journey reveals how a love of Calcio crossed thousands of kilometres, then settled in the hearts of Saudi fans who kept it alive for years and passed it on to their children.
Voices tied to the memory of Calcio
The film revives memories of the Italian league through names the Arab audience came to associate with the competition.
Hisham Al-Khalsi, one of the most famous Calcio programme presenters in the Arab world, recalls the period when television programmes introduced the stars and clubs of the Italian league to viewers.
Commentator Khalid Al-Ghoul speaks about the years his voice was tied to the biggest Calcio matches, while Michele Ciccarese, the commercial and marketing director of the Italian league, explains why Saudi Arabia and the wider region matter to the competition's present and future.
Space goes to the Calcio fans in Saudi Arabia too, from the people who founded the supporters' groups and took part in the old forums, all the way to a new generation who found this passion waiting for them on digital platforms.
From forums to supporters' groups
The relationship did not stop at following matches.
As the internet spread, forums and chat groups became a meeting point for lovers of Juventus, Milan, Inter and Napoli, before those gatherings evolved into more organised supporters' groups.
Match days turned into an occasion to meet friends, wear club shirts, trade arguments, celebrate victories and bear defeats alongside people who shared the same allegiance.
Capturing that shift, the film follows fans from two different generations and compares the viewing experience of the past with the way people follow Calcio today.
When Calcio reached Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's hosting of the Italian Super Cup added a new chapter.
For the first time, many fans got the chance to watch the stars and clubs of Calcio on Saudi soil rather than through a screen.
Italian flags and shirts filled the stands, and Saudi fans met their counterparts who had travelled from Italy, turning a relationship that began from afar into a direct experience inside the stadiums. The closeness extended to the technical side as well, with coaches and players moving from the Italian league to the Saudi league, carrying their footballing ideas and experience into a new venture.
A bridge between two generations
Technology changed the way people follow the Italian league, but it did not change how they feel about it.
After years of waiting for kick-off and staying up for it, digital streaming has made sports content far easier to reach.
The film highlights the role of stc tv in connecting the generations. It hands the new fan an easy way into Calcio, while reviving for the old fan the memories of an era when the match was an event awaited all week.
Between the two experiences, the same story continues.
A passion passed from one generation to another
By its close, the film lands on the idea that ties all these details together: a love of Calcio in Saudi Arabia is no longer merely an interest in a European competition, but part of the memory of entire generations.
A father watches the match with his son. Friends disagree over their favourite clubs. Children wear the shirts of clubs whose names they knew long before they ever visited the cities.
The way of watching changed, technology developed, and the generations shifted, but the relationship stayed the same.
"Calcio: A Saudi Passion" tells the story of a love that began behind screens, spilled out into reality, and grew into a footballing legacy passed from one generation to the next.
