The UK’s Complicity in Saudi Sportswashing

Saudi Arabia now dines at the top table of world football. Set to host the 2034 World Cup, its Pro League is busy raiding top European clubs for talent including the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo. The country’s shocking human rights record under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi have taken a back seat to the oil state’s vast wealth, as Adrian Goldberg explains in this edited extract from his forthcoming book

When Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund initially tried to buy Newcastle United in 2020, the Premier League rejected the takeover, recognising the PIF as an arm of the Saudi Government.

Its objections to the Saudi takeover had nothing to do with government ownership per se, however. The key issue was TV rights.

In the Gulf region, the Premier League had sold these to beIN Sports, a broadcaster based in Qatar, the Government of which was locked in a bitter diplomatic rivalry with the Saudis.