Newcastle is eying a shirt sponsorship with Saudi event company Sela. The business, which has organized athletic events like the yearly Race of Champions and operates in several nations, is in extensive talks to become the Magpies’ main business partner. As Newcastle prepares to host Champions League football at St James’ Park for the first time in a while, sources claim Sela is now the front-runner to replace the gambling business Fun88 as the club’s sponsor. If the negotiations go well, an agreement might be revealed as early as next month, allowing for the production of duplicate uniforms before the start of the next season in August. One insider issued a warning that the talks may yet fail.
The business was established in 1995 under the name Sela Sport, and it claims to be the first Saudi athlete representation organization to receive FIFA recognition. It has close ties to the Saudi men’s national team, who competed in the World Cup in Qatar last year and shocked the odds by defeating eventual champions Argentina in the group stage. Since then, Sela has expanded into other sports as well as non-sporting events, and it claims to have organized events that attracted more than 15 million spectators.
Newcastle’s new sponsor will unavoidably come under intense scrutiny from the Premier League and rival teams due to Sela’s Saudi Arabian headquarters. Due to Saudi Arabia’s enormous financial influence, several top-flight clubs protested the club’s £305 million takeover by the Gulf state’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) in 2021. Gary Hoffman, the former chairman of the Premier League and a well-known businessman who helped save Northern Rock during the 2008 financial crisis, quit the group because he wasn’t happy with how it handled the purchase.
The most recent edition of the Premier League regulation asks for a rigorous assessment of commercial relationships with associated companies in order to prevent clubs from receiving an unfair financial advantage. The standards require that agreements be concluded at “fair market value,” as established by an unbiased third party. A contract cannot be terminated legally, but clubs may be asked to renegotiate it if it turns out that the terms are not in line with current market rates.
With his acquisition of Newcastle, retail billionaire Mike Ashley has thus far had great success in the world of sport. The team is in third place in the rankings, one point and position behind Manchester United. Newcastle will play in Europe’s premier club event for the first time in 20 years as a result of Liverpool’s inability to overtake the Magpies, who are now in fifth position.
Despite never daring to imagine it, Newcastle will be participating in Europe’s elite club tournament next season after defeating Leicester to secure a top-four position. In just his first full season in command at St James’ Park, Eddie Howe led the Magpies back into the Champions League group stages for the first time in 20 years. The accomplishment also occurs in the first full season under Saudi ownership following their acquisition of the team from Mike Ashley in October 2021, a period in which they noticed a change in both the team’s performances and the energy in the stadium.
Howe and Newcastle have additional difficulties as a result of their Champions League qualifying, the first of which is how to effectively prepare the team to fight against teams like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Napoli. Everyone involved will confirm that it is ahead of schedule if you ask them. They had not planned on making the Champions League. Eddie Howe said that he just didn’t want to be involved in a relegation battle when asked what he intended to accomplish at the beginning of the season. He likely desired a little bit more than that in private. A Europa League or Europa Conference League finish, in my opinion, would have made many people pleased behind the scenes.
You need to accept the fact that the project is going forward more quickly than you had anticipated. Obviously, it alters a number of financial aspects of the club’s development. You’re not going to say “no” to the Champions League now, are you? It is evidence of the work Howe and his backroom team have accomplished.
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