Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Monday, Sep 22, 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

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
×