By Andrew Warshaw
October 8 – Newcastle United, one of the English game’s proverbial sleeping giants, look set to become European football’s latest superpower after the long-drawn-out £300 million+ takeover of the club by a Saudi Arabian-backed consortium was finally completed.
By Paul Nicholson
October 7 – The decision by Saudi Arabia to lift a four-year ban on Qatar-based broadcaster beIN Sports could remove a key impediment in the way of the Saudis taking ownership of Newcastle United.
September 20 – Qatari-owned Paris Saint-Germain will play a friendly against a Saudi select in the Saudi capital as part of the Riyadh Season Cup.
September 13 – Saudi football is aiming for the sky. On Saturday, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) launched a new strategic development plan that aims to lift the Kingdom to the elite circle of the game by the time of the 2034 World Cup.
September 8 – Iran, Australia and Saudi Arabia have taken early advantage in the last round of Asian Qualifying for Qatar 2022. All three won their opening two games and top Groups A and B in the 12 team qualifiers.
August 11 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has met Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday. He was accompanied by the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Patrice Motsepe “to discuss sports cooperation with FIFA, CAF.”
August 3 – The Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) have reasserted their commitment towards hosting the 2027 Asian Cup finals following the AFC’s announcement that the date for the bid award has moved back in 2022.
May 19 – The Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) have enhanced their AFC Cup 2027 bid hosting credentials following the successful completion of three groups of the East Zone 2021 AFC Champions League.
March 29 – Saudi Arabia has taken another significant step of integration into the Asian, and global football environment, with the announcement of a sponsorship deal between the AFC and the new city of NEOM currently under construction in the kingdom.
March 24 – Saudi Arabia, which launched its first women’s league last year, has unveiled plans of a new development programme for the women’s game within the country, allied to its bid to host the AFC Asian Cup in 2027.
February 23 – Real Madrid have reportedly held “advanced talks’” with Saudi Arabia’s state-owned Qiddiya over a potential lucrative ten-year €150 million sponsorship deal.
By Paul Nicholson
January 15 – Serie A, who are in the final stages of hiving off their commercial rights to venture capitalist CVC for $1.7 billion, will have an early test of that value with the league having issued a tender for the broadcast rights for the Middle East and Africa.
January 14 – The long-tailed but failed £300 million Newcastle United takeover bid led by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIP) that ended in floods of tears last July, might not be dead in the water. Certainly there is renewed pressure on the Premier League to further explain why it failed to approve the new ownership.
January 6 – Seemingly not a day goes by without Gianni Infantino courting a Gulf country. On Wednesday, the FIFA president visited Saudi Arabia, the day after the 41st GCC summit ended the three-year blockade of Qatar.
By Paul Nicholson
January 5 – Saudi Arabia has agreed to lift its land and air blockade on Qatar in a major step towards ending a Gulf dispute that has been often been played out in the soft politics of football and football media.