Newcastle United launch significant new plan to help combat Financial Fair Play issues

The Newcastle squad are currently in Saudi Arabia for a warm weather training camp which includes a friendly match against Al-Hilal on Thursday (5pm kick-off GMT). In addition to confirming Saudi Telecom (STC) as the club’s official digital tour partner, the club has also launched an Arabic language Twitter account.

The @nufc_ar account posts Arabic translations of the official @NUFC account tweets as well as bespoke tweets to cater to a new audience. The interest in Newcastle United in Saudi Arabia has significantly increased since the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund became majority owners of the club last October.

The account already has over 25,000 followers and will help Newcastle significantly on the commercial front by tapping into a new Arabic speaking audience. Roughly 274 million people across the world speak Arabic.

Newcastle’s chief commercial officer Peter Silverstone said: “Our ambition is to grow our supporter base in Saudi Arabia; a country whose young population includes a large, passionate and highly engaged football community."

The club already have a partnership with sleeve sponsors Noon.com, while SAUDIA, Saudi Arabia’s flag carrier airline, have partnered with Newcastle for the winter tour.

Newcastle are also looking to secure a new main shirt sponsor for the 2023-24 season after negotiating an early exit from the deal with FUN88. Commercial deals are of particular significance to United as they will help combat Financial Fair Play restrictions by increasing the club’s revenue.

And having an official Arabic speaking account will potentially open up several new commercial avenues for the club.