Premier League: beIN Sports requests blocking of possible Newcastle United takeover by Saudi fund

Yousef Al-Obaidly, CEO of the Qatari pay-TV group beIN Media Group, has written to Richard Masters, chief executive of the Premier League, and the 20 club presidents of the English league, asking them to block the possible takeover of Newcastle United FC (Premier League) by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, according to the British daily The Times on 22/04/2020.

Newcastle United FC is reportedly about to be sold for £300m (€340m) to a consortium owned 80% by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. Yousef Al-Obaidly is calling for the owners' and directors' test procedure for buying out a Premier League club to "robustly apply" because of the piracy of Premier League matches for "almost three years" by the Saudi entity beoutQ. The pay-TV group accuses Saudi Arabia of supporting the pirate broadcasting entity since its launch.

"There appear to be several reasons why such an investigation is being called for by other parties; our request is purely based on Saudi Arabia's past and present theft of your and your member clubs' intellectual property rights," said the CEO of…