Saudi Arabia to raise $1.5bn by privatising sports clubs

The Chairman of the Saudi General Sports Authority (GSA), Turki Al Sheikh, said yesterday that Saudi Arabia aims to raise between $800 million and $1.5 billion from the privatisation of sports clubs.

Al Sheikh, an adviser to the Saudi Royal Court, asserted in an interview with Bloomberg that Saudi Arabia’s privatisation programme targets 16 sports clubs.

The Kingdom has been moving forward with a massive denationalisation programme to support the country’s revenues which have been negatively affected by declining oil prices.

On 24 April, the Saudi Council of Economic and Development Affairs approved a plan to implement the “Privatisation Programme” as part of the country’s Vision 2030 plan to reduce the economy’s reliance on petrodollars and expand its income stream.

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