Newcastle United confirm PIF-linked commercial partnership in Saudi Arabia

With Newcastle’s squad currently in Riyadh for a warm weather training camp in Saudi Arabia, advertising boards showing Saudi Telecom Company (STC) have been on display. STC’s logo was also shown on advertising boards at St James’s Park during United’s 1-0 win over Chelsea last month.

STC is based in Riyadh and Newcastle’s owners, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, own a majority stake in the telecommunications provider.

And the club has now confirmed that STC is officially supporting the trip to Saudi Arabia as the official digital tour partner. STC will have a digital presence at the Al-Hilal friendly match on Thursday (5pm kick-off) and will continue to have a presence at St James’s Park.

The Magpies have also partnered with Saudi Arabia’s national flag carrier airline SAUDIA for the trip with the squad travelling via the airline.

Discussing the new partnership, Newcastle’s new 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.

"We are delighted to welcome stc to our growing family of partners and have them on board as our second strategic partner for the club's visit to Saudi Arabia this December.

"STC digitally connects millions of individuals and businesses throughout the Middle East and their market knowledge, expertise and experience in sport partnerships will complement our drive to reach and engage with more people across one of our key markets. We look forward to working closely with STC."