Saudi Arabia team friendlies in Newcastle home

Article posted by Coliseum, August 23^rd, 2023

Image: St. James' Park, Ultra7, CC BY 2.0

Saudi Arabia’s men’s football team will play two international friendly matches at the Premier League club Newcastle United F.C.’s home stadium – the St. James’ Park in Newcastle upon Tyne, England (UK) – in September, the Premier League club said recently.

‘Reuters’ stated that Newcastle, whose majority shareholder is Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), will host the Saudi national side’s games against Costa Rica on September 8^th and South Korea on September 12^th at the St. James’ Park.

The Saudi Arabia national football team represents Saudi Arabia in men’s international football. They are known as Al-Suqour Al-Khodhur in reference to their traditional colors of green and white and represent both FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)-based the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach football and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member-countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), joined AFC in 2006.

The Newcastle United Football Club, commonly referred to as Newcastle, is an English professional football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear (UK). The club competes in the Premier League – the highest level of the English football league system.

The St. James’ Park is a football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England (UK). It is the home of Newcastle United. With a seating capacity of 52,305 seats, it is the eighth largest football stadium in England. The St. James’ Park has been the home ground of Newcastle United F.C. since 1892 and has been used for football since 1880.

Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)-based the Public Investment Fund (PIF) is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. It is among the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world with total estimated assets of US$776 billion (£538 billion). It was created in 1971 for the purpose of investing funds on behalf of the Government of Saudi Arabia. The wealth fund is controlled by the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler since 2015.

‘Reuters’ further stated that the two games form part of Saudi’s preparations for the AFC Asian Cup to be held in Qatar in January 2024. Saudi Arabia won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1996.

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