Saudi league kicks off with global ambition and a new media push
August 23 – The Saudi Professional League (SPL) kicked off last night with defending champions Al Nassr opening with a 2-0 win over Dhamk.
Tag: Saudi Arabia
Football’s united condemnation of beoutQ demands Saudis stop supporting TV theft
By Paul Nicholson
July 31 – Football’s most powerful governing bodies and rights holders have issued the largest combined statement to date condemning the theft of their broadcast rights by pirate broadcaster beoutQ and “requesting” the Saudi Arabian (KSA) government to immediately take “swift and decisive” action.
Saudi’s Al Hilal part company with UAE star Abdulrahman after wage negotiations fail
July 23 – With the transfer window open in West Asia one of its star players, Omar Abdulrahman, is looking for a new club.
MBS thwarted as Glazers refuse to sell Man Utd to Saudi Crown Prince
May 1 – Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is no longer considering a £3.8b billion takeover of Manchester United according to British press reports.
US puts Saudi Arabia on ‘watch list’ over beoutQ copyright theft
By Paul Nicholson
April 26 – Saudi Arabia has been put on a ‘Priority Watch List’ by the US and in the UK questions were asked in the Houses of Parliament over the industrial scale copyright theft by Saudi-based pirate broadcaster beoutQ.
Saudi Arabia among 4 nations with no FIFA Forward cash released at end of 2018 cycle
By David Owen
March 19 – Saudi Arabia may be appearing to play an increasingly prominent role in football business and politics in the Gianni Infantino era. But the Kingdom seems to be ignoring the FIFA President’s offer of largesse via the beefed-up FIFA Forward programme.
AFC streaming of ACL reaches 1m in Saudi Arabia but now Saudi 24 channel joins piracy
By Paul Nicholson
March 13 – The streaming of the Asian Champions League match involving Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli Saudi away to Uzbekistan’s Pakhator was watched by close to 1 million people in Saudi Arabia on the AFC’s YouTube and Facebook Live channels.
AFC step in to beIN/beoutQ broadcast row to stream Saudi ACL games on its digital channels
By Paul Nicholson
March 12 – Football fans in Saudi Arabia will be able to watch tonight’s Champions League match involving Al Ahli Saudi FC away to Uzbekistan’s Pakhator FC legally and without having to resort to beoutQ’s piracy of BeIN Sport’s broadcast.
Football governing bodies issue joint threat to pirate channel beoutQ
By Samindra Kunti and Paul Nicholson
January 22 – FIFA, UEFA, AFC, La Liga, the Premier League and the Bundesliga have today issued a joint statement condemning “clear and flagrant” pirating of games by satellite channel beoutQ, but refrained from naming Saudi Arabia as culpable for the infringements though the channel broadcasts from the country.
Grp E: Almoez double hands Qatar bragging rights over Saudi
By Paul Nicholson and Samindra Kunti
January 17 – Ali Almoez delivered another powerful goal scoring performance inspiring Qatar to a resounding 2-0 win over a solidly organised but rarely threatening Saudi Arabia. Qatar top Group E unbeaten and now face Iraq in the last 16.
Saudi’s Italian Super Cup games goes ahead. Women allowed in, broadcast partners left out
January 17 – Following weeks of protests over gender discrimination, thousands of women attended Wednesday night’s controversial Italian Supercup final between Juventus and AC Milan in Saudi Arabia – but all of them were reportedly chaperoned by men or accompanied by male children.
beIN Sport ups pressure on Serie A and demands Super Cup is moved from Saudi Arabia
By Paul Nicholson
January 11- Qatar-based pan-regional broadcaster beIN Sport has written a second letter to Serie A urging new CEO Luigi De Siervo to change the venue of the Italian Super Cup final that will be played in Jeddah next week to a location outside of Saudi Arabia.
New Year policy rethink? Saudi reshuffle moves Al-Sheikh from sports to entertainment
By Paul Nicholson
January 2 – Saudi Arabia’s controversial Turki Al-Sheikh who as president of the General Sports Authority has involved himself in the international football market and its politics, has had his ministerial position re-organised with a move to chairman of the Entertainment Authority.
Saudis lose first round of beoutQ battle at WTO after EU and China speak against
By Paul Nicholson
December 19 – The European Union, China and Canada all spoke out in support of Qatar’s case against Saudi Arabia at a World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting today discussing the beoutQ piracy of broadcast programming. All three backed the contention that Qatar had the right to pursue protection of the intellectual copyright through the organisation.
UAE’s Al-Rumaithi and Qatar’s Al Mohannadi join the race for the AFC presidency
By Paul Nicholson
December 7 – The UAE are officially putting forward a candidate for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) presidency of the regional confederation whose elections take place April 6 in Kuala Lumpur next year.As is Qatar. Both nominations came in before yesterday’s midnight deadline last night.