CLARK, Philippines: President Rodrigo Duterte will attend Saturday’s opening ceremony of the Southeast Asian Games, the presidential palace said, a day after the Philippine leader apologized for the chaotic build-up.
The organization of the 30th edition of the SEA Games has been mocked and marred by complaints about transport, accommodation and food as thousands of athletes have flooded into the Philippines for the biggest-ever edition of the multi-sport event.
And the threat of an approaching typhoon — forecasted to hit the north of the country early next week — looms large.
Duterte had pledged a probe into the troubled run-up to the Games’ opening ceremony at the Philippine Arena, around 25 kilometers north of the capital Manila, after a rush of logistical problems and last-minute construction.
“I’m really apologizing for the country ... they (other nations) should know while they are still here that the government is not happy,” Duterte said in an interview that aired Friday.
“You cannot just cast away all those — the discomfort, the sufferings of the athletes, sleeping on the floors, getting hungry,” he added. “To the countries that sent them here, it’s a big deal.”
He also instructed organizers to release complimentary tickets to many of the 56 sports at the SEA Games to locals.
The Philippines was bracing for a typhoon which national forecasters warned was maintaining its strength.
PAGASA said Typhoon Kammuri — which is packing gusts of 185 kilometers per hour and maximum sustained winds of 150 kph (93 mph) — is presently heading right for Games venues in the north of the country and is expected to make landfall on Tuesday.
As the build-up woes cast a shadow over the Games, Indonesia clinched the first gold medal of the competition with a historic victory, bringing Singapore’s 54-year stranglehold on the men’s water polo competition to an end.
With only sailing, windsurfing and netball on the sporting schedule on Saturday, all eyes will be on the opening ceremony, which starts at 7 p.m. (1100 GMT).
Many of the details remain a secret, although the show’s director, Filipino writer Floy Quintos, shared a photo on Facebook of hundreds of performers in colorful costumes on stage.
“Yes, the show is a spectacle,” wrote the award-winning playwright, adding the image showed a people “united.”
“And the power of spectacle is one that has been used, worldwide by the powerful to further agendas. But it is in the hands of the spectacle’s creators to patch together some meaning, some cohesion, some message that goes beyond the political.”
This year’s Games in Clark, Manila and Subic, which run through to December 11, are particularly complex with a record 56 sports across dozens of venues that are in some cases hours’ drives apart, even before Manila’s notorious gridlock traffic is factored in.
SEA Games: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to attend opening ceremony
SEA Games: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to attend opening ceremony
- The organization of the 30th edition of the SEA Games has been mocked and marred by complaints
- Duterte had pledged a probe into the troubled run-up to the Games’ opening ceremony
How Saudi football scored in the runup to 2026 FIFA World Cup
- Saudi Pro League asserted global dominance with star-studded lineups and record-breaking performances from Asia’s elite top-tier clubs
- Domestic leagues reached new heights, yet the national team faces mounting pressure ahead of a high-stakes global tournament
DUBAI: FIFA President Gianni Infantino seemed full of optimism on Dec. 21 when he said Saudi Arabia had become a major hub on the global football stage and that the Saudi Pro League was on track to become one of the top three in the world.
With players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema and a nation crazy about the great game, this endorsement perhaps comes as little surprise.
Infantino also predicted a successful World Cup in 2034 when the tournament will be hosted by Saudi Arabia. With infrastructure being built and upgraded, the Expo 2030 venue under construction, and reforms underway, the World Cup seems destined to be a success.
The FIFA boss also praised the progress made not only at the senior national team level and across youth categories, but also in the women’s game, thanks to the backing of football authorities in recent years.
While this paints a positive picture of the game in the Kingdom, it follows the national team’s 1-0 loss to Jordan in the semi-finals of the 2025 Arab Cup. Many supporters will need far more convincing of the team’s prospects going into the New Year.
Although the return of Herve Renard as coach of the Green Falcons following Roberto Mancini’s disappointing stint has resulted in a second consecutive World Cup qualification (and seventh overall), failure to win the Arab Cup in Qatar and some less than inspiring performances means the jury is still out on the Frenchman.
At the 2026 World Cup, Saudi Arabia will face Uruguay, European champions Spain, and Cape Verde in their three Group H matches, taking place in Miami, Atlanta, and Houston respectively.
Saudi fans sharing Infantino’s positive outlook will hope Renard’s men can emulate the historic win over Argentina on that memorable night at Lusail Stadium in 2022. But that is far easier said than done, and many remain unconvinced.
For a start, just as Poland and Mexico were alerted to Saudi Arabia’s potential following that humbling of Lionel Messi and co in Qatar, their opponents in the US will likewise be on their guard this time around.
Worryingly for Saudi fans, the team has rarely, if at all, hit the same highs since Saleh Al-Shehri’s equalizer and Salem Al-Dawsari’s stunning strike brought about arguably the most famous win in the Green Falcons’ history.
The 2023 AFC Asian Cup, played in early 2024 and only months after Mancini’s arrival, saw Saudi Arabia eliminated by South Korea on penalties in the round of 16.
World Cup qualification was eventually secured but not before the team needed to negotiate a fourth round group that included Iraq and Indonesia in October.
The semi-final exit at the Arab Cups prompted rumors — immediately denied by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation — that Renard’s job was under threat. Still, it was hardly a ringing endorsement of the way things had turned out on his second stint as national team coach.
Outspoken Saudi-based football pundit Battal Algoos has been scathing in his criticism of Renard and his employers, and in particular of the excuses for the Arab Cup disappointment.
“It seems to be a contagion that has affected the Saudi camp,” he said on the football show “Filmarma” on Al Arabiya.
“Everyone justifies (their position) through others’ failures. We brought you to win a championship, not to say ‘those before me didn’t win championships, I’m no worse than them’.
“It seems to be contagious, from (SAFF President) Yasser Al-Misehal to Renard. Or their thinking is one and the same.”
Paul Williams, Australian journalist and founder and presenter of “The Asian Game” podcast, was at Lusail Stadium the day Saudi Arabia beat the eventual world champions, but believes urgent fixes are needed by Renard this time round.
“There are a multitude of areas that Saudi Arabia need to improve,” he told Arab News. “The obvious is in the final third, where there are still issues finding a reliable avenue to goal, an issue that blighted most of their qualification campaign.
“But they also haven’t yet found a capable replacement in midfield for Salman Al-Faraj, and the entire narrative around Saudi football has changed since before 2022.
“There has always been pressure and expectation from the fans, but that is even more intense now and it feels like that sits heavily on the squad, who are yet to prove they are capable of delivering under that burden of expectation.”
The team’s main concern remains, as it was four years ago in Qatar, its lack of fire power up front and an over-reliance on Al-Dawsari for goals and inspiration. In that sense, at least the 34-year-old talisman can still be relied on.
The Al-Hilal and Saudi Arabia captain provided one of the highlights of 2025 when he was named AFC Player of the Year at the awards ceremony in Riyadh. Al-Dawsari is the only Saudi to have won the Asian award twice.
On an individual level, he enjoyed a stellar 2024-25 season with his club, although Al-Hilal lost out on the Saudi Pro League title to a Benzema-inspired Al-Ittihad.
Al-Dawsari and Al-Hilal came back strongly in the summer to reach the quarter-finals of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the US, along the way drawing 1-1 with Real Madrid in the group stage and brilliantly beating Manchester City 4-3 in the round of 16.
Domestically, however, it is their local rivals that have stolen all the headlines, with their lead at the top of the SPL delighting millions of fans around the world and perhaps in the process reinforcing Infantino’s estimation of the league.
Al-Nassr, now managed by former Al-Hilal boss Jorge Jesus and inspired by the relentlessly enduring Ronaldo, look near invincible at the top of the table, having won all nine matches during this campaign.
The coronation that their fans and the Portuguese legend’s army of global followers had envisioned since he landed in Riyadh three years ago is looking increasingly likely to happen in May. Their end of year report card is glowing 9 out of 10.
Al-Hilal, the self-styled Real Madrid of Asia, can never be counted out however, and the title race in 2026 could be one of the most exciting and close in recent years.
Reigning champions Al-Ittihad, on the other hand, have put up a dismal defense of their title resulting in the sacking of Laurent Blanc, who was succeeded by Sergio Conceicao. Their card will read “must do better.”
Al-Ahli provided further evidence of the SPL’s continental dominance by claiming the 2025 AFC Champions League Elite after beating Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale 2-0 in Jeddah last May.
Elsewhere, Aramco-owned Al-Qadsiah and newly promoted NEOM provide intriguing plot lines as they sit in fifth and eighth respectively, while Al-Taawoun continue to punch above their weight in third.
One of the standout personalities of the season has been US investor Ben Harburg who — through Harburg Group — acquired 100 percent of Al-Kholood in July, making it the first Saudi club wholly owned by a foreign entity. The purchase opens up new possibilities for the SPL.
There is little debate now that the SPL is the most powerful and entertaining in Asia and could in future years, if Infantino is right, become one of the world’s best. The national team’s standing however, until the 2026 World Cup at least, remains up in the air.
