"Newcastle takeover: Premier League to review ownership rules after Saudi Arabia human rights concerns", 12 Nov 2021

The Premier League intends to review its regulations which govern who can own a football club once chief executive Richard Masters has met Amnesty International to discuss a human rights-compliant test process....

“We have to go into the meeting optimistically and hope they’re willing to listen to our concerns, then see how the meeting goes,” Felix Jakens, Amnesty’s head of priority campaigns and individuals at risk, told i.

“Human rights should be considered as part of the decision about who should take ownership of a football club.”

The meeting will take place later in November and will be attended by Amnesty chief executive Sacha Deshmukh and David Chivers, a QC who drafted the human rights-compliant Owners’ and Directors’ Test first offered to the Premier League in 2020.

“The current rules concerning who owns and runs English football clubs are woefully inadequate, with no bar on ownership for those complicit in acts of torture, slavery, human trafficking or even war crimes,” Deshmukh said.

“The Saudi buyout of Newcastle United always looked like an attempt to sportswashSaudi Arabia’s appalling human rights record with the glamour and prestige of the Premier League and top-flight football.”...