Saudi sports clubs to be privatized

DAMMAM: The bylaw for privatization of Saudi clubs will be issued shortly as a panel of experts are now putting final touches to it, said Prince Nawaf bin Faisal, head of the Youth Welfare Presidency.
“Privatization will bring about qualitative improvement to Saudi sports,” the prince said while opening a sports investment forum here.
“We have signed an agreement with FIFA to seek its guidance for building world-class sports facilities,” he said, adding that the forum would contribute to the privatization process. The law firms SNR Denton and Deloitte’s Sports Business Group, a unit of Deloitte & Touche, have been awarded a nine-month project to advise the presidency on the privatization project.
Together, they will complete a study and recommend an approach to privatize the main youth sports clubs and restructure the existing domestic professional soccer league. The study will be completed in two months.