Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Sports Minister announced on Monday the transforming of ownership of four major clubs into companies owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
This comes as part of a project launched by the Crown Prince for the investment and privatization of sports clubs.
The announcement was made during a news conference held by Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Sports, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Faisal, to discuss the new project.
The four major clubs whose ownership was tranformed to the PIF are Al-Ittihad, Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, and Al-Ahli.
The existing members of each club will be included in the four foundations.
PIF will own 75 per cent of the ownership in each club and will elect five members of the board of directors from each club.
The other two members will be chosen by the general meeting of non-profit foundations, and the president of each club will be one of those elected by the foundation.
He also announced the transfer of ownership of Al-Qadisiyah clubs to Aramco, Al-Diriyah to the Diriyah Development Authority, Al-Ula to the Royal Commission for Al-Ula, and Al-Saqour to the NEOM company.
Sports Clubs Investment and Privatization Project
Earlier in the day, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched the Sports Clubs Investment and Privatization Project, SPA reported.
The launch of the project comes in accordance with the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030 to elevate the sporting scene in the Kingdom.
According to SPA, the project’s current status stands on two main tracks.
- The first— approving the investment of major companies and development agencies in sports clubs in return of transferring the clubs’ ownership to them.
- The second— offering a number of sports clubs for privatization, starting from the last quarter of 2023.
Three strategic objectives underpin the project:
- Fostering investment opportunities and an appealing investment environment in the sports sector.
- Boosting professionalism, governance, and financial sustainability in sports clubs.
- Enhancing clubs’ competitiveness and infrastructure.
The transfer and privatization of clubs in general aims to achieve qualitative leaps in various sports in the Kingdom by 2030 and to create a distinguished generation in sports at the regional and global levels.
The project also aims to boost the global ranking of the Saudi Pro League, making it among the top 10 leagues in the world.
Furthermore, the project aspires to raise the revenues of the Saudi Professional League from 450 million riyals to more than 1.8 billion riyals annually, in addition to raising the market value of the Saudi Professional League from 3 billion to more than 8 billion riyals.
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