Eighty-two minutes. That’s how long it took Ivan Rakitic to win over the hearts of the Al-Shabab FC faithful. Having put pen to paper in late January, the silky Croatian midfielder was making his debut for the Saudi Pro League team in a tricky away fixture against Damac FC a few weeks later. The Riyadh-based side had been in control for much of the game, but could not find the key to unlock the home team’s dogged defense. That was until Rakitic produced a piece of supreme skill that has long been his calling card.
After a frantic build-up down the left hand side, the ball was squared to the edge of the penalty area where a deft pass from Musab Al-Juwayr laid it into the path of the on-rushing Rakitic. Without breaking his stride, he lets the ball run across his body and smashes it, first-time, with the outside of his right foot towards goal. His strike is so true that the ball is still rising when it flies past the helpless Damac ’keeper into the back of the net. Cue wild celebrations from the Al-Shabab players, and smattering of fans who had made the long trip down to Khamis Mushait, to witness the arrival of their new superstar.
Rakitic’s thunderbolt not only secured a much-needed away win for Al-Shabab, but it was an instant indicator that the ex-Barcelona player was here to make a difference. In a new league, in tricky conditions, with an unfamiliar set of teammates around him—it took 82 minutes for Ivan Rakitic to remind everyone that class is permanent.
“It was a pretty good way to say ‘hello’,” chuckles Rakitic, who is talking to Esquire Saudi over Zoom from the dining room of his new house in Riyadh. He’s looking relaxed, wearing a crisp white t-shirt, and as he casually sweeps his mid-length fringe out of his face, we catch a flash of a nice Audemars Piguet Royal Oak on his wrist. “But once the game is over, you have to quickly put it aside and focus on the future,” he says, switching to a tone of authority. Of course, he’s right. Winning one game, while nice, does not create long-term change—and that is what the Barcelona and Sevilla icon is here in Saudi to do.
“I came to make a difference at this club,” says Rakitic. “It is the oldest club in Saudi, and therefore it has an important history in this passionate footballing country. I am here to help ensure it has an important future.”
At the end of 2023, Rakitic was spending the New Year with his family at their home in Seville, Spain. The thought of moving to Saudi hadn’t really crossed his mind. Despite, at 36, being one of the oldest players in the Sevilla squad, he had earned legend status at the club having played more than 200 games for them—winning two Europa League titles—either side of a six-year stint as an important part of an all-conquering Barcelona team that at one point included Leo Messi, Neymar Jr., Xavi Hernandez, Andreas Iniesta and Luis Suarez.
“My agent mentioned that there was interest from Saudi, which I didn’t think much of until I spoke to Al-Shabab President [Khalid Al-Baltan], who very quickly convinced me that what the club was building was something very special,” he explains. “It was exciting.”
Building is a key word. Over the past year, Saudi football has been in the ascendancy. What started with Cristiano Ronaldo’s internet-breaking transfer to Riyadh’s Al-Nassr, was followed up with the Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) purchasing of four Saudi Pro League clubs. Since then a tidal wave of talent has swept into the Kingdom—from Karim Benzema (Al-Ittihad) and Sadio Mane (Al-Ahli) in Jeddah, to Rakitic’s former teammates Neymar (Al-Hilal) and Marcelo Brozovic joining Ronaldo in the capital—ensuring that not only is Saudi now home to the fastest growing league in the world, but the world was now watching.
Al-Shabab is not one of the PIF-owned clubs, and that is something that made the project even more interesting to Rakitic. He saw it as a chance to refuel his passion for the game, a way to share and give back everything that the sport had given to him. “There is a real sense of community at this club. It wasn’t a case of the club twisting my arm to come here, I wanted to come and be part of the project. To come and help get them back to where they want to be.”
Over his nearly 20-year career, Rakitic has played for some of the most celebrated (and successful) teams in history. Not just that Barcelona team, but he was also instrumental in leading Croatia to the World Cup Final in 2018. “I am fortunate enough to have played for some important teams, and in the biggest matches in the game, and yet, I still get that excited feeling in my stomach when I walk into the locker room or on the pitch here at Al-Shabab,” he says. “I still love this game, but now I see my role as being able to offer something more than just winning games. When I first joined Barcelona, I was fortunate enough to play alongside two of the greatest midfielders in history—Xavi and Iniesta. What I learned from them was not so much on the pitch, but was the way they approached all the other aspects. How they trained; how they prepared for a match; what they did afterwards; how they spoke to the media; how they expected everyone around them to have the same level of commitment—that is what I learned.”
Rakitic admits that while the level in Saudi is not what it is in Spain, a large part of his role is to help set the path to help get there. “There are many, many talented players here, and what I can do is bring my standards to the team. I want to transmit a winning mentality to the guys, not just on the field, but in all aspects – when it comes to training, diet and health, dealing with the media – all of it.” He acknowledges that it “won’t’ happen overnight”, but there is no denying the passion which he speaks of in this new chapter in his career.
Having relocated his family to an upmarket compound in a Riyadh suburb, enrolled his daughters into school, and started learning basic-level Arabic—to say that Ivan Rakitic is ‘on-board’ with what Al-Shabab and Saudi football is building is an understatement. The biggest indicator of that was when picking his squad number.
“For pretty much every footballer, the number that they wear has a meaning to them. You have to have a connection – to be passionate about it,” he says. Growing up, Rakitic would always opt for the iconic number 10 shirt – a number that he would wear at Sevilla. But the number 10 is a hotly contested one. At Barcelona it was worn by Messi, so he opted for number 4 (“it was Pep Guardiola’s old number”). For the Croatia it was national totem Luka Modric who wore number 10, so he chose number 7. When he joined Al-Shabab, the numbers 10, 4 and 7 were already taken, and so he spent a while thinking about it – rejecting a whole bunch of suggestions from the club, his agent and even his wife. “I was trying to find a connection, you know?” he says rhetorically. “I was looking for a number that would mean something to me in this new experience in Saudi.” The spark came from an information pack that his agent shared with him about Saudi Arabia, and specifically Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s Vision 2030. There was something with the country’s ambitious leadership that hit a chord—a man with a vision and a desire to drive it forward. He asked the club for number 30.
On the pitch, there is much work to be done. It’s been a decade since Al-Shabab won the last of its six league titles. The arrival of global stars to the PIF-powered Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr has relegated the famed ‘White Lion’ to the role of Riyadh’s third team, and this season has been another mediocre one—but there has been signs of improvement. Despite his bombastic debut goal, Ivan Rakitic’s arrival half-way through the season, may not have been an instant turning point in terms of results, but it does signify the beginning of something bigger, for both club and player.
“I’m highly competitive,” he says. “In training, I want to win. I want to beat everyone else. If we are doing five sprints, I will do six. If I have to kick a player in a practice match, then I’ll do it. After the game I will shake his hand, but that is the intensity that you need to have to make it to—and stay—at the top. We need everyone at the club to have this mentality. When I joined Al-Shabab, we were tenth in the league. My ambition is to raise us to six or seventh by the end of the season. Then next year to improve on that, maybe third or fourth. We can do that.”
It is clear that a central part in the ‘Third Act’ of Ivan Rakitic’s illustrious career is making sure the right goals are set. “Next year, we will have a full pre-season to get things right, to ensure that the mentality is right and the players are willing to fight. I don’t see this as adding pressure to the team, I see it as having ambition.”
Photography by Amina Zaher / Styling by Laura Jane Brown / Grooming by Khaled Mohammed Abdulallah Said Zidani Bouzarea with Chaps & Co. / Lighting assistant: Mostafa Abdu; Styling Assistants: Janhvi Kohli & Florence Webber