Saudi Arabia turns the "Big Four" of the Pro League into PIF firms
Posted on Jun 15, 2023 at 08:06 PM
The Saudi Arabian football league wants to boost its earnings and reach the "top 10 globally."
According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the Sports Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stated on Monday that four significant clubs would become the Public Investment Fund (PIF) subsidiaries.
The announcement occurred at a press conference by Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's Minister of Sports, to discuss the new endeavour.
Al-Ittihad, Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, and Al-Ahli are the four biggest teams whose ownership was transferred to the PIF.
The four foundations will include the current members of each club. PIF will own each club to 75%, and five board members will be chosen from each club.
The president of each club will be one of the two additional members chosen by the general meeting of nonprofit foundations, together with the other two members.
Additionally, he said that Aramco would now control the Al-Qadisiyah clubs, the Diriyah Development Authority would now own Al-Diriyah, the Royal Commission for Al-Ula would now possess Al-Ula, and the NEOM firm would now own Al-Saqour.
Saudi Arabia seeks to sign high-profile players.
This is a component of the Crown Prince's strategy to invest in and privatize clubs. As the government revives a plan to privatize numerous state-owned sports teams, the sovereign wealth fund will take over four top football clubs in Saudi Arabia, including Al Nassr, which Cristiano Ronaldo plays.
Earlier this year, Cristiano Ronaldo signed on with Al-Nassr, while Argentine icon Lionel Messi has been heavily linked to a summer transfer to Al-Hilal.
Since Al-Ahli was recently promoted to the top division, Al-Ittihad won the Saudi Pro League championship and recently signed Karim Benzema from Real Madrid.
Ronaldo, a 38-year-old Portuguese legend who recently left Manchester United amicably, signed a two-year deal worth about £175 million per year with Al-Nassr in December.
In 16 Pro League games, he scored 14 goals, but he could not lead his team to the championship as they came in five points behind Al-Ittihad.
The 35-year-old Argentine World Cup champion is reportedly close to signing a contract with Al-Hilal this week after being promised a whopping £345 million per season.
Messi has completed his farewell game for Paris Saint-Germain in France. Since last year, he has been a travel ambassador for Saudi Arabia, receiving £25 million a year.
Investment and Privatization Project for Sports Clubs
According to SPA, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled the Sports Clubs Investment and Privatization Project earlier. The project's debut is in line with Saudi Vision 2030 goals to improve the sporting landscape of the Kingdom.
The project is currently on two primary tracks, according to SPA:
- The first is allowing significant corporations and development organizations to invest in sports clubs in exchange for receiving ownership of the clubs.
- The second is to start privatizing various sports clubs in the last quarter of 2023.
Three strategic objectives support the initiative:
- Promoting business possibilities and a desirable business climate in the sports industry.
- Improving the governance, professionalism, and financial viability of sports groups.
- Increasing club infrastructure and competition.
Essentially, the transfer and privatization of clubs intend to accomplish qualitative leaps in various sports in the Kingdom by 2030 and to produce a renowned generation in sports at the regional and global levels.
The project aims to increase the Saudi Professional League's annual revenue from 450 million riyals to more than 1.8 billion riyals and its market value from 3 billion to more than 8 billion riyals.
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