Latest editorial
Club director Amanda Staveley and husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi (left) with then newly-appointed Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe, November 2021
THE Saudi Professional League (SPL) is causing a stir in football this summer, throwing its money around in a bid to attract more of the game’s global stars to the league.
The surge of spending, on wages even if not on transfer fees, comes on the back of four of the league’s biggest clubs being bought out by the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is also the majority owner at Newcastle United.
Earlier this month, PIF announced 75 per cent ownership in Saudi clubs al-Ittihad, al-Ahli, al-Nassr and al-Hilal, as part of the country’s Sports Clubs Investment and Privatisation Project.
As football grapples with overloaded calendars and commercial pressure, the Mariners’ triumph reminds us why the game’s soul lives far from the spotlight, writes JAMES NALTON
As the concept of league games being played overseas has come about once again, JAMES NALTON writes how a club is not a club without its links to location, community and fans
Vermont Green FC’s viral Bernie Sanders tifo was more than a joke. It was a sharp critique of US soccer’s top-heavy capitalism and a celebration of grassroots power, writes JAMES NALTON
