The tiny, super-rich nation of Qatar denied the charge and the boycott ended this year. The Saudis declared beIN illegal in 2017 as they launched a wider economic and diplomatic boycott of Qatar alongside the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain over accusations Doha supports extremism. The club will be seeking a transformation in the same manner enjoyed by Manchester City in 2008 after its takeover by another Middle Eastern entity - Abu Dhabi - that was also brokered by Staveley.Ī key impediment to the Newcastle takeover was the pirating of sports broadcasts from Qatari-owned beIN - including of Premier League games - by an entity the World Trade Organization said was facilitated by the Saudi state. 'The Premier League has now received legally binding assurances that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not control Newcastle United Football Club.” “All parties have agreed the settlement is necessary to end the long uncertainty for fans over the club’s ownership,' the league said in a statement. The Premier League's approval of the new owners and directors means 15 of its clubs are either owned or part-owned by overseas investors. “PIF is very much an autonomous, commercially driven investment fund, and it does not operate as part of the wider state. “The crown prince is chairman of a lot of entities in Saudi,' said Staveley, who will also be on the club's board. The fund’s governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will be on the board at the northeast English club as non-executive chairman. ”We needed to demonstrate there was sufficient separation between PIF and the Saudi state, and that has been determined that there is.”īut while the crown prince will not have a place on Newcastle's board of directors, he remains chairman of the PIF. “The big change was the control issue,” Staveley told The Associated Press.

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