In the two decades since English soccer threw its doors open to billions of dollars of overseas investment, the private acquisition of a middling team has seldom become a matter of human rights, geopolitics or international piracy. But when a rookie soccer investor this year set its sights on Newcastle United, a 128-year club fallen on hard times, the league was forced to weigh far more than whether the check would clear. That’s because the investor is Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammad...

Source: Wall Street Journal April 30, 2020 10:02 UTC