Newcastle United news: Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan has spoken about PIF’s investment into Newcastle United and his vision for Saudi Arabian football.
Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 FIFA World Cup as the country continues to plow huge sums of money into football. Beginning with their takeover of Newcastle United in October 2021, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia has also taken over a number of top clubs in the Saudi Pro League.
This investment in football has seen a number of huge names head to Saudi Arabia to play in the Saudi Pro League - with the staging of the World Cup yet another landmark moment for Saudi Arabian football. PIF’s takeover of Newcastle United three years ago began a renewed focus on investment in football and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who was named as chairman of Newcastle United following the completion of the takeover, believes that their £305m purchase of the Magpies was the ‘perfect’ opportunity for PIF and that they will use lessons learned from their time on Tyneside to help develop the Saudi Pro League and transform it into one of world football’s powerhouse leagues.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan’s ‘perfect’ Newcastle United admission
Al-Rumayyan, speaking at The Economic Club of Washington event, explained how he is using the lessons learned at Newcastle United to transform football in Saudi Arabia: “It's the World Cup, and it's the most prestigious football event in the world and there are billions of people who are watching the World Cup. It's very important to us in Saudi [Arabia] because it complements the strategy that we have when it comes to increasing the number of tourists, visitors, and also to improve the quality of life for Saudis.
“So we started with Newcastle United Football Club. It made perfect sense to us, the price was below the other English Premier League teams, and at the same time, the potential was so high. So we put in about 350million, and we improved everything.
“The performance when we took it, they were 19 out of 20 and in that first season, we went all the way up to the seventh position, and we ended up with a season at the 11th. The next three seasons, we got the first cup in 70 years for the club. That was last year.
“We finished in the top five and top four for the last two of three years. We played the Champions League, which is another great event.
“And how did we do it? We just brought in our framework and our system to the decision-making process. And we took this experience, brought it back to Saudi.
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“So we started the Saudi Professional Football League, and with that, as most of us know, Cristiano Ronaldo is playing there, Neymar used to play there, Karim Benzema, who are like the superstars of the world of football. And we said, ‘OK, now we have great players, how can we make the clubs great clubs?’
“So we're bringing in the same experience that we have had in Newcastle United Football Club, to Saudi, to Al-Hilal, to Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassr, to Al-Ahli, and the other clubs that we own indirectly through Aramco, through Neom, through Qiddiya. So now the Saudi Football League is ranked in the top four leagues in the world.”
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