London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jul 16, 2025

Saudi-backed Newcastle takeover as much about status as sportswashing

Saudi-backed Newcastle takeover as much about status as sportswashing

Riyadh will hope acquisition can not only improve kingdom’s image but also serve as a highly conspicuous display of wealth
From heavyweight boxing to horse racing, from wrestling events to a grand prix; Saudi Arabia’s association with sport has become an integral, and contentious, part of its efforts to rebrand.

But its latest play – taking a majority stake in Newcastle United Football Club – is the kingdom’s boldest move yet, placing it firmly on the world’s sporting stage, and squarely in the crosshairs of its critics.

The takeover is Riyadh’s first major acquisition of an overseas sports team and first foray into the world of high-profile associations with top-flight football – a power play pioneered by its Gulf partners.

As Qatar picked up Barcelona FC and Paris St Germain, and nearby Abu Dhabi took control of Manchester City, Saudi Arabia had looked on enviously and waited for an opportunity.

So, when Carla DiBello, a close friend of Yassir al-Rumayyan, the chief executive of Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund (PIF), suggested the Newcastle deal, Rumayyan took it to the fund’s chairman and Saudi Arabia’s effective leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Approval was granted quickly. The chance to match the neighbours was too good to miss, and the £300m price tag – less than the reported €400m (£340m) price tag of a villa that Prince Mohammed bought in France – was small change for the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund.

Talks with the PIF and Newcastle’s owners have dragged on for over a year. Only after satisfying regulators that the kingdom would not be involved in the running of the club has an end to Mike Ashley’s 14-year tenure seemed likely.

But the association between a Premier League football team and a state seen as verging on pariah status by its many critics has more hurdles to jump before it can pass the public sniff test.

In accepting the Saudi state as an owner, Newcastle is taking on quite some baggage. Agreeing to such a takeover could be construed as acquiescing to a human rights record that has been condemned by rights organisations.

The butchering of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul three years ago, the jailing and widely reported abuse of rights activists in Riyadh and a hardline intolerance of dissent generally has made Prince Mohammed an unpopular figure in Joe Biden’s administration in the US and in parts of Europe.

His critics, among them Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, contend that the use of sports is a convenient mask for things the Kingdom wants people to forget about and that decisions like the Newcastle purchase are made with “sportswashing” in mind.

Dig a little deeper and the motives are more primal – a Middle Eastern version of keeping up with the Joneses, a world where status is everything, is a key driver of the push to engage with global sport.

Appearing relevant on the world stage is essential, especially when your neighbours have trumped you. And conspicuously displaying your wealth isn’t far behind.

Top flight football had been wildly popular in the kingdom even before societal shackles were dropped by its new regime. Saudi Arabia has a successful national team and the English Premier League is the most popular of the European football competitions.

The seeming embrace of the hard-charging, big-drinking culture behind Newcastle United may seem incongruous to a conservative and rigid country. And, in many ways it would have been, before Prince Mohammed entrenched his new guard and changed the nature of the country itself.

Cafes in Riyadh and Jeddah regularly teem with men and women watching football. The new accommodation is that personal freedoms – watching what you choose and choosing your company – is no longer forbidden.

Under the heir to the throne’s regime, embracing aspects of western culture that may have been frowned upon five years ago is no longer taboo. Anything seen to threaten the seat of power is treated very differently.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
President Trump Visits Flood-Ravaged Texas, Praises Community Strength and First Responders
From Mystery to Meltdown, Crisis Within the Trump Administration: Epstein Files Ignite A Deepening Rift at the Highest Levels of Government Reveals Chaos, Leaks, and Growing MAGA Backlash
Trump Slams Putin Over War Death Toll, Teases Major Russia Announcement
Reparations argument crushed
Rainmaker CEO Says Cloud Seeding Paused Before Deadly Texas Floods
A 92-year-old woman, who felt she doesn't belong in a nursing home, escaped the death-camp by climbing a gate nearly 8 ft tall
French Journalist Acquitted in Controversial Case Involving Brigitte Macron
Elon Musk’s xAI Targets $200 Billion Valuation in New Fundraising Round
Kraft Heinz Considers Splitting Off Grocery Division Amid Strategic Review
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
EU Proposes New Tax on Large Companies to Boost Budget
Trump Imposes 35% Tariffs on Canadian Imports Amid Trade Tensions
Junior Doctors in the UK Prepare for Five-Day Strike Over Pay Disputes
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Biden’s Doctor Pleads the Fifth to Avoid Self-Incrimination on President’s Medical Fitness
Grok Chatbot Faces International Backlash for Antisemitic Content
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
×