🧐 Rivals smell ref scandal! Is CR7 being handed the title? | OneFootball

Cristiano Ronaldo is in his third season at Al Nassr, but the Portuguese superstar has yet to win a title with them. This season, however, things are looking quite good. Currently top of the table, CR7 and Co. still have it in their own hands with six games remaining and a two-point lead.

The competition, however, suspects serious cheating. The accusation: the Saudi Pro League’s governing body is allegedly doing everything it can to help Ronaldo and Al Nassr win the championship.

That is at least what some players from third-placed club Al Ahli are claiming. The team coached by German manager Matthias Jaissle could do no better than a 1-1 draw in their most recent match against Al-Fayha, a painful setback in the title race.

There were several highly controversial penalty decisions in the match. After the final whistle, disbelief was widespread.

On social media, Ivan Toney and teammate Galeno spread the explosive accusations that the referees appointed by the league were significantly influencing the title race with their decisions.

English striker Ivan Toney posted a story on Instagram, which he later deleted: “We all know it. Who are we trying to take first place away from? Who does it benefit? It’s crystal clear. I don’t know what else we can do. If you catch the ball with both hands, is that a penalty? When we tried to speak to the referee, he told us to focus on the Asian Champions League. How can a referee say something like that?”

His colleague Galeno, a former FC Porto player, was even more direct on X: “They might as well hand them the trophy right now, because that’s what they want. They definitely want to push us out of the title race, they want to give the trophy to a certain person — that is disrespectful to our club.”

Most recently, the club itself even released an official statement about the incidents from the last matchday. It also clearly called the refereeing performance into question: “The referee’s decisions had a direct impact on the course of the match and the final result, which in turn affected the team’s position in the title race. Such errors raise legitimate doubts about the referee selection process and the criteria being applied. The team was faced with unfair refereeing decisions, an unacceptable situation that neither benefits the development of the competition nor upholds the principle of competitive fairness, which must be the foundation of every successful tournament.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 Abdullah Ahmed - 2026 Getty Images