Premier League matches might have huge global appeal and its broadcast deals are worth billions of dollars, but right now the organization finds itself at the eye of a moral, ethical, and political storm.
The PIF — which has an 80% stake in the club as part of a three-party consortium — is a sovereign wealth fund chaired by Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and the man who a US intelligence report named as responsible for approving the operation that led to the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Bin Salman has denied involvement in Khashoggi’s murder.
The day before the match between Chelsea and Newcastle, Saudi Arabia executed 81 men in the biggest mass execution in decades. Rights groups have criticized the country for executing people who were minors at the time of the offenses for which they were convicted.
Geopolitical issues
Earlier in March, British businesswoman Amanda Staveley, who played a key role in the consortium’s acquisition of Newcastle, said it wasn’t “particularly fair” that Abramovich had been forced to sell Chelsea as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“I’m sad someone is going to have a football club taken away because of a link they may have with someone,” Staveley, who owns a minority stake in Newcastle, was quoted as saying at the Financial Times’ Business of Football Summit in London, according to the FT.
“I don’t think that’s particularly fair to be honest, but we do have to hold all of our relationships to account. We’ll always have geopolitical issues, this world is never not going to have problems,” she added.
The sanctioning of Abramovich means Chelsea must find answers — and quickly — to an array of questions: how to finish the season, how to ensure a smooth sale to a new owner, and, fundamentally, how to ensure Chelsea Football Club can continue to operate next season.
But Chelsea’s current predicament also raises uncomfortable oversight questions for the Premier League and the UK government…
Source : cnn
