Modern football, eh? Sportswashing galore, and plenty of people complaining about sportswashing until your club is directly benefitted.
Anyway, let's not get too political.
Foreign ownership has been commonplace in European football, especially in the commercially supreme Premier League, which has started to emerge as its own Super League given its wealth in comparison to the continent's other leading divisions.
However, a new frontier is beginning to open up in a faraway land that's sending one or two ripples across Europe. The Saudi Pro League (SPL) is not close to competing with Europe's best on a qualitative front, but increased governmental interest means, financially, the league's 'Big Four' trump absolutely everybody.
Here's how the owners' net worth of Saudi Arabia's 'Big Four' compares to the owners of several leading Premier League clubs.
Saudi Pro League's 'Big Four' net worth
There are just a few clubs in the SPL doing the bulk of the mammoth spending and these are the league's 'Big Four' - the four founding members of the division: Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassr, and Al-Ahli.
Al-Nassr set the precedent at the end of 2022 when they signed free agent Cristiano Ronaldo, while current champions Al-Ittihad have brought in Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kante this summer. Their spending certainly isn't done yet.
Saudi Arabia's ministry of sport announced at the start of June that these four clubs have been taken over by the country's Public Investment Fund (PIF). PIF now owns a 75% stake in each of these clubs, with the other 25% controlled by a non-profit organisation.
As you'd expect, PIF, in essence, produces an endless stream of cash. It's the sixth-largest sovereign wealth fund in the world, boasting a net worth of just over £475 billion.
Sheikh Mansour's net worth
The Premier League's current dominant force, Manchester City, are owned by the City Football Group, 81% of which is owned by the Abu Dhabi United Group.
This group is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, member of the Abu Dhabi Royal Family and Minister of Presidential Affairs for the UAE. Mansour acquired City in 2008, with the club going on to win seven Premier League titles and the Champions League off the back of his fortune.
Mansour's net worth exceeds £23.5bn, but even this monumental figure pales in comparison to the wealth of the Saudi-backed clubs.
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund net worth
Newcastle's rise has been facilitated by an ownership change which saw Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund take control of an 80% stake in the club.
PIF's net worth is documented above, with recent data suggesting Newcastle's majority owners have a whopping £475bn at their disposal. However, Amanda Staveley's PCP Capital Partners and RB Sports & Media also played crucial roles in the takeover.
Staveley, the CEO of PCP, is reportedly worth upwards of £110m, while the owners of RB Sports & Media, the Reuben Brothers, each boast net worths of £5.5bn.
The Glazers' net worth
Nobody on the red side of Manchester is a fan of the Glazers, and many Man Utd are hopeful that a takeover of the club will soon be completed with British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Qatari businessman Sheikh Jassim still in the running.
United are currently owned by the disliked Glazer family, who put the club up for sale last year and are hoping to receive a bid in the region of £6bn after buying the club for £790m in 2005.
Malcolm Glazer's six children each own an equal share of the 90% controlling stake Malcolm took control of, with the entire family's net worth estimated to be £3.9bn, according to Forbes.
This article was originally published on 90min as How Man City, Newcastle & Man Utd owners' net worth compare to Saudi Pro League.
