JAKARTA - The efforts made by the Saudi Public Fund Investment to buy 80 percent of Newcastle United's shares have suffered a setback. The World Trade Organization (WTO) confirmed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is involved in promoting piracy.
The aforementioned report explains that Saudi Arabia at the government level is helping to pirate the interests of the Premier League, La Liga Santander, the Bundesliga and UEFA in organizing competitions, especially the Champions League.
The current owner of The Magpies, Mike Ashley, has been trying to sell the club for the past few months. Then came the interest of Saudi Arabia which could potentially end his reign at Newcastle United. However, that hope is now fading.
According to a report published on Tuesday, the Arabian peninsula failed to take action to stop the operation of beoutQ, a platform operating in Saudi Arabia.
BeoutQ steals the intellectual property of rights holders for sporting events, running directly against the Qatar-owned platform beIN sports.
This battle is even more interesting considering that previously there had been geopolitical competition between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It has climaxed since the 2011 Arab Spring.
BeIN is prohibited from hiring lawyers in Saudi Arabia to assist their cases in anti-piracy courts. Naturally, this weakens their position.
Newcastle United fans are disappointed by this latest development. It was the same with the pain Ashley had been through for years. However, there may still be hope in the form of alternative buyers.
According to Sky Sports, Newcastle have received a new offer worth around 391 million euros. This is more than what the Saudis have to offer.
This offer came from the United States, to be precise from the CEO of Clear TV, Henry Mauriss. However, he will wait for a deal involving Saudi Arabia to completely collapse before stepping in and owning a majority stake in the club ahead of the start of the 2020/21 season.
Obviously, if Mauriss takes ownership of Newcastle, the club's transfer plans will change drastically. Because of previous hopes, capitalizing on the wealth of the Saudi Arabian consortium led by Muhammad bin Salman, they will soar to the levels currently occupied by Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.
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