The first edition of the AFC Champions League Elite begins Monday with stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Riyad Mahrez looking to lead their Saudi clubs to success in Asia.

Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal and Al-Ahli are among the favorites to win next May’s final and reinforce the ambitions of the Saudi Pro League (SPL) of becoming one of the best in the world.

In the summer transfer windows of 2023 and 2024, SPL clubs spent over $1 billion on transfers to bring top-level players from the big European leagues.

Al-Hilal midfielder Ruben Neves joined Al-Hilal in 2023 from Wolverhampton Wanderers of the English Premier League for a fee of around $60 million and has no doubt that the SPL has enough quality.

“I have said this a few times — if you compare my data from English football to Saudi football, I run even more, but with the difference that I run in 40 degrees (Celsius, 104 Fahrenheit),” Neves said after helping Portugal to a 2-1 Nations League win over Scotland on Tuesday when Ronaldo scored the winning goal.

“I am in good shape physically. Both Cristiano and I proved today that Saudi football has quality.”

Al-Hilal is the most successful team in Asia with four continental titles and starts its campaign against Al-Rayyan of Qatar. Ronaldo won five UEFA Champions Leagues but has yet to win a major trophy with Al-Nassr and he will face Iraq’s Al-Shorta while Mahrez and Al-Ahli hosts Persepolis of Iran in Jeddah.

As well as the big stars, also reinforcing the chances of the giants from Jeddah and Riyadh, is that from the quarterfinal stage on, all games will take place in Saudi Arabia.

There are bigger changes, however. The Elite version replaced the AFC Champions League as the continent’s top tournament.

The number of teams participating has reduced from 40 to 24. Instead of 10 groups of four, there are two groups of 12, divided into east and west geographic zones, with teams playing eight games with the top eight progressing to the second round.

In the east zone, China, South Korea and Japan all have the maximum allocation of three teams though Australia has only the Central Coast Mariners.

Clubs from the A-League have struggled in the Champions League in recent years but if the Mariners can succeed, there may be more places for Australian teams in the future.

“We know if we perform and we carry out our game plan and play our way, we know we can compete,” Central Coast head coach Mark Jackson said. “We’ve shown that. Whether we can compete consistently on that front, again with the size of squads these teams have, how they can travel because I’m sure these teams travel in a different way to how we travel.”

The Elite tournament has become more lucrative with the winner receiving $10 million in prize money, an increase from $4 million last season.

BRUSSELS: Sweden’s undisputed pole vault king Armand Duplantis brought the curtain down on an unbeaten season with another fantastic victory in the Diamond League finals in Brussels on Friday.

It was his 15th and final victory of a year in which he improved his own world record three times, up to 6.26 meters.

The US-born Swede was again a world apart from the competition at the King Baudouin Stadium in cold conditions.

He vaulted only three times, at 5.62, 5.92 and 6.11m, the latter a new meeting record. Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis was second with 5.82m on countback from home favorite Ben Broeders.

“My legs felt terrible tonight and I’m just really tired,” admitted Duplantis, who was left ruing taking on hurdles star Karsten Warholm in a pre-event exhibition 100m race in Zurich last week.

“That took a lot more from my body that I expected. With 6.11 meter I got a good result, but the world record wasn’t meant to be tonight.”

Duplantis added: “Now it’s time to celebrate my beautiful season: I will drink some good Belgian beers tonight for sure!”

The opening session of the two-day finals of track and field’s elite circuit was high-octane affair, with a large percentage of some of the 82 medal winners from the Paris Oympics on show.

Olympic champion Julien Alfred scorched to victory in the 100m as US rival Sha’Carri Richardson finished well down the field.

It had been Richardson who triumphed in Zurich last week, edging Alfred at the line.

But the Saint Lucia sprinter turned the tables when it mattered, clocking 10.88 seconds for the win. Richardson eased off well before the line in the knowledge she had been well beaten, eventually finishing eighth in the nine-woman field in 11.23sec.

“I am so happy, it feels amazing to finish my season on a good note and to take the win,” said Alfred.

American star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone played her cameo to a tee.

The 25-year-old, who improved her own world record when winning back-to-back Olympic 400m hurdles golds in Paris, had not competed at a Diamond League event this season and was therefore ineligible for the finals.

But organizers managed to lure McLaughlin-Levrone, who won a second Olympic gold in Paris with the US 4x400m relay team, to Belgium to race in invitational 200 and 400m flat races as a way to “honor” her Olympic achievements.

She won her 400m race in 49.11sec, which was better than world and Olympic champion Marileidy’s winning time of 49.45sec in the 400m final proper.

Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen held off a strong field for victory in the ever-competitive men’s 1500m in 3min 30.37sec.

The Tokyo Olympic champion missed out on the podium in the French capital, but has been keen to make amends, once again holding off Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot and Paris Games winner Cole Hocker.

Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh, the world and Olympic champion and world record holder, notched up her eighth consecutive Diamond League win with a best of 1.97m, winning on countback from Australian Nicola Olyslagers.

But there was a rare defeat for Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali, the double Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion, in the men’s 3000m steeplechase.

Kenya’s Amos Serem claimed the win in 8:06.90, with the Moroccan coming in second in 8:08.60.

Jamaica’s Ackeem Blake strode home in the men’s 100m, winning in 9.93sec ahead of Americans Christian Coleman (10.00) and Fred Kerley (10.01), the Olympic bronze medalist and 2022 world champion.

Blake’s teammate Tajay Gayle, the world bronze medalist, won the long jump with a season’s best of 8.28m, Olympic champion Militadis Tentoglou coming in third, 1cm behind Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer (8.16m).

And there was a surprise win for Britain’s Charles Dobson in the men’s 400m, laurels taken in 44.49sec.

American Valarie Allman won the women’s discus with a best of 68.47m and echoed many athletes’ sentiments after a long year of track and field.

“Now it’s off season! I really can’t wait for your fries, waffles and chocolate!”