Middle East Investment in European Football

  Paris Saint-Germain FC (PSG) has had remarkable success and won many ligue 1 titles and French cups despite the club being relatively young, being founded in 1970. For a very long time, Paris did not have a football club that truly belonged to the elite, however, this finally changed in 1970, when a group of businessmen merged Paris FC and Stade Saint-Germain into a single club named PSG. After being promoted to Ligue 1 in 1972, PSG eventually won back-to-back French cups in 1982 and 1983, and won their first Ligue 1 title in 1986. Since then, being led by various star players and new ownership, PSG has won many more French titles, and only one European title (Cup Winners’ Cup 1996). In 2011, PSG was bought by Qatar Sports Investments, a Doha-based fund with close links to the Qatari royal family, and has since then been generously sponsored by Qatari firms and made the club the richest in France and one of the richest in the world. This deal sparked controversy due to sports was...

  As a lesser heralded part of the large injection of capital in European (more specifically English) football through ownership takeovers in the early 2010s, Prince Abdullah bin Musaid al Saud of the House of Saud purchased a majority stake in Sheffield United in September 2013. Eventually, in 2017, Prince Abdullah purchased the remaining shares from former partner Kevin McCabe amidst bitter court battles. After a high court ruling in favor of the Prince, he was able to purchase the shares for only 10% of their market value at the time. This is due to the fact that this battle happened to coincide with United’s promotion to the Championship, ballooning both the club's revenue streams and market value. The Blades were then able to carry this momentum into a promotion to the Premier League for the 2019 season, further increasing both financial and on-pitch success.  Like other English clubs taken over by wealthy owners in recent EPL history, Sheffield United has a rich history....

Foreign investment and primarily investment from the middle east have become more prevalent in recent years regarding European football. A perfect example is Newcastle FC. The Saudi Arabian public investment fund completed the purchase of Newcastle for 305 million pounds. The fund currently manages over 430 billion pounds bringing a newfound frugality to the club. Fans filled the streets around St. James Park when the deal was confirmed.  Although the new ownership would be bringing in more assets, would it be a good fit for the eighth-most valuable team in the premier league? Newcastle FC was founded in 1881 and was formerly known as Stanley FC. The team has played at St. James Park since 1892 and has a historic presence but hasn’t won a trophy since 1955 and has struggled in recent years.  The deal took over 18 months to complete. When the bid was for ownership was placed, it was met with immediate protests from beIN Media Group. beIN is a Qatar-based media company that owns...

  Many people would say that the world runs on oil, but does football too? In 2010-2011 Middle East investment in the sports world of football was at its peak. Manchester City had been taken over a couple of years beforehand and the powerhouses of Qatar were in the process of taking over PSG in France. Alongside this, an ex-Hull University student was eyeing up Hull City as they headed into a financial crisis. The, then 70-year-old, Egyptian-British businessman Assem Allam successfully took over the club at the end of 2010 and his reign over Hull City began. The club only cost him a fee of 1 euro to take over with additional debt of 35 million euros and pledging to invest a good amount into the club as the club were relegated to the second division of England.    A lot of controversies surrounded this deal regarding the investment of oil money into England, and in 2013 it got even worse. The new owner Assem Allam announced that he was changing the name of the club from ...