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The Saudi sovereign wealth fund which owns Newcastle has taken majority stakes in four of the Middle Eastern country’s biggest clubs, including Cristiano Ronaldo’s team Al Nassr. The Public Investment Fund (PIF) is taking 75 per cent stakes in Al Nassr, Asian Champions League finalists Al Hilal, Al Ahli and Al Ittihad, who are understood to be interested in signing Karim Benzema after his intention to leave Real Madrid at the end of the season was confirmed. The PIF also own an 80 per cent stake in Newcastle following the completion of a protracted and controversial takeover in October 2021. Sources close to the fund have told the PA news agency that the move to take controlling stakes in the four Saudi clubs does not constitute the creation of a multi-club ownership model involving Newcastle. Each club will be managed by an independent board and have separate executive management, the sources said. Clubs in the Saudi top flight, who have technically been owned by the country’s Ministry of Sport until now, are being privatised as part of a government initiative to help the sport further develop. FIFA has been approached for comment on the issue. A statement on the PIF Twitter account read: “As part of today’s announcement of the Sports Clubs Investment and Privatization Project, four Saudi clubs – Al Ittihad, Al Ahli, Al Nassr, and Al Hilal – have been transformed into companies, each of which is owned by PIF and non-profit foundations for each club.” PIF said existing members of each club would be included in the four foundations and that the fund was working closely with the Ministry of Sport on the necessary regulatory procedures to complete the clubs’ transfers to their new structures as newly-founded companies alongside non-profit foundations. “The transfer of the four clubs will unleash various commercial opportunities, including investment, partnership and sponsorships across numerous sports,” the PIF statement concluded. The Saudi government said in a release from the country’s national press agency issued earlier on Monday that it hoped that as well as further bolstering participation in sport at grassroots level, the move to privatisation would raise the league’s revenues from 450million riyals (£96.7m) last year to 1.8 billion riyals (£386.7m) and increase its market value to more than 8bn riyals (£1.72bn) by 2030. The extent to which the Saudi government controls Newcastle came back into the spotlight in February this year after the publication of court documents in the US. The Premier League approved the PIF-led takeover of the club only after receiving “legally-binding assurances” that the Saudi state would not have control of the club. However, documents from PIF’s legal team published in a court case related to the LIV Golf and PGA Tour dispute described PIF as “a sovereign instrumentality of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” and PIF governor and Newcastle chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan as “a sitting minister of the Saudi government”. The Premier League has declined to comment on whether it had opened an investigation following the publication of the court documents. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Andy Murray determined to show he remains among the elite on grass courts Ange Postecoglou: Who is he and what can Tottenham fans expect? Alfie Hewett adapting to his new status as the man to beat in wheelchair tennis

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Canada midfielder Quinn made history when they became the first transgender and non-binary person to appear at either a men’s or women’s World Cup, playing 90 minutes in the 0-0 draw with Nigeria in Melbourne last week. The Ontario native, 27, is already a gold medallist for their country, part of the side that triumphed at the Covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics in summer 2021 and has designs on going all the way in Australia and New Zealand too. Hailing from a sporting family – Quinn’s father and mother played college rugby and basketball respectively – the midfielder quickly took to football as a child, rejecting all other after-school pursuits in favour of the beautiful game. They played at youth level for North Toronto, Richmond Hill and Erin Mills Eagles and briefly for Toronto Lady Lynx in 2013 before heading due south and enrolling as a biology major at prestigious Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. There, Quinn played for the Duke Blue Devils, making 69 appearances and scoring four between 2013 and 2017. Turning professional after graduation, they signed first for Washington Spirit in 2018 before a short-lived stint with Paris FC in France followed. Quinn subsequently transferred to OL Reign in Seattle in 2019, where they have played alongside US Women’s National Team greats Rose Lavelle and Megan Rapinoe ever since – outside of a brief loan spell with Swedish side Vittsjo GIK in 2020. For the Canadian national team, Quinn made their debut for the under-17s in 2012 and subsequently played for the under-20 and under-23 sides before graduating to the senior squad in 2014, subsequently picking up 89 caps and scoring five, as well as a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Quinn became known by the mononym in 2020 after coming out as transgender and non-binary, opting for gender-neutral pronouns. They were granted permission to continue playing professional women’s football based on a sex-assigned-at-birth basis. “I want to be a visible figure for young trans folks or people questioning their gender, people exploring their gender,” Quinn has said of their decision to come out. “Because unfortunately when I was growing up, and even going through that process of figuring out myself in college, I didn’t have those people in the public sphere to look up to. “There are several trans athletes and several trans people in media and politics, but I just think those faces are not common enough. “I want to be a visible trans person succeeding in my job, so that younger trans folks could see that they did have an avenue to go and that they would have a future and a career ahead of them.” Read More Women’s World Cup 2023 LIVE: Spain and Japan through before Ireland vs Canada Women’s World Cup TV schedule: How to watch every match today Tuesday at the World Cup: Philippines stun New Zealand as Norway are held New Jersey Governor keen to host Premier League and Champions League matches Vera Pauw ‘a bit concerned’ about Louise Quinn fitness for Republic-Canada game Denise O’Sullivan hails ‘unbelievable’ Ireland fans at World Cup