RIYADH — The boards of directors of four top Saudi Professional League (SPL) clubs have been reconstituted. The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) has appointed five out of seven members on the boards of Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassr, and Al-Ahli while the remaining two members are representatives of the non-profit foundations, formed by each of the four clubs. This follows the acquisition of majority stakes in these premier clubs by the Saudi sovereign fund early last month. Outgoing boards of Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassr, and Al-Ahli clubs have approved the reconstitution and transfer of ownership. Fahad bin Nafel is the chairman of the board of directors of Al-Hilal, and Sulaiman Alhatlan, vice chairman of the non-profit Al-Hilal Foundation, is the second member of the board. The PIF has appointed Abdul Majeed Al-Haqbani, Fahd Abu Himed, Yasser Al-Dawud, Abdullah Al-Abdul-Jabbar, and Fahd Al-Haqbani as members of the board. Anmar Al-Haili has been appointed chairman of the Board of Directors of Al-Ittihad Club, while Ahmed Kaaki is the second member of the board representing the non-profit foundation of the club. The PIF named Suhaib Jamjoom, Khaled Tamerak, Faris Al-Hujailan, Muhammad Badr, and Abdullah Al-Salem as the board members. Musalli Al-Muammar will be the chairman of the Board of Directors of Al-Nassr Club. Abdulaziz Al-Omran is the second member from the non-profit foundation of the club, while PIF appointed Sultan Al-Deghaither, Hamoud Al-Rumayyan, Raed Ismail, Maram Al-Juhani and Anas Al-Sheikh as members of the board. Dr. Khaled Al-Ghamdi has been named chairman of the board of directors of Al-Ahli Club, and Khalid Al-Hindi, vice president of the non-profit foundation, will be the second member representing the club. PIF's representatives on the board are Osama Shaker, Abdulaziz Al-Anqari, Muhammad bin Laden, Ayman Al-Rashed, and Muhannad Al-Bleihad. Saudi Arabia announced on June 5 transforming the four SPL clubs into companies owned by PIF and forming non-profit foundations for each club. This comes as part of the announcement of the Sports Clubs Investment and Privatization Project. The Saudi Ministry of Sports had revealed that the board of directors of each club will be comprised of seven members – five appointed by the PIF and the other two by the non-profit foundation under the club. PIF will own a 75 percent stake in each club and will nominate five members of the board of each club. The remaining 25 percent stake will be owned by the non-profit foundation. The other two members of the board will be chosen by the general assembly of the non-profit foundations and the president of each club will be one of those elected by the foundation. Saudi Arabia's push to attract the world's best players entered another phase when the PIF took majority stakes in four of the country's top clubs. The move was part of a privatization project that encourages public sector organizations to invest in sports, with soccer teams a priority under the initiative backed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The PIF already owns English Premier League club Newcastle and it manages more than $600 billion of the Kingdom's assets.
