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Teams and Regimes: Sportswashing in Football

Is middle eastern oil money being used to buy more than success for football clubs like Manchester City and Newcastle United, but also to exert political influence in the UK?

Manchester City are dominating English football, with a trophy cabinet full of silverware. The club’s success has been bankrolled by money from Abu Dhabi. Now Newcastle United have followed in their wake, with backing from a Saudi consortium transforming a sleeping giant of English football into perhaps the world’s richest club. But with the money comes accusations that the clubs are being used to launder the reputations of repressive regimes accused of human rights abuses, and that the cash from the two oil rich states is being used to exert political influence locally and nationally in the UK.

Reporter: Adrian Goldberg
Producer: Fergus Hewison
Technical Producer: Craig Boardman
Production coordinator: Tim Fernley
Editor: Carl Johnston

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38 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Tue 14 May 2024 20:00
  • Wed 15 May 2024 11:00

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