Derby County: Independent football regulator faces 'defining test' over potential Rams investment

English football's independent regulator faces a "defining test" as Saudi Arabian government official Turki Al-Sheikh attempts to invest in Derby County, says Amnesty International.

Al-Sheikh, who has previously owned football clubs in Spain and Egypt and is now among the most powerful figures in world boxing, is looking to buy a stake in the Championship side.

As chairman of Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority - and someone who is a prominent figure in the close circle of the country's de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman - 44-year-old Al-Sheikh has been criticised by human rights groups for his role in alleged 'sportswashing' by Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has been accused of using sport and culture to improve its reputation and to distract from the nation's poor human rights record, treatment of women, use of the death penalty and its anti-LGBT stance.

Al-Sheikh will need approval from the independent football regulator (IFR) - a body that was formed only last year to safeguard the future and integrity of the game.

The IFR has establish a new owners, directors and senior executives test, taking over the responsibility previously held by English Football League when it came to new investment in Championship sides.

Both bodies, as well as Derby County, have declined to comment on Al-Sheikh's interest in the Championship side when contacted by the BBC, as have Al-Sheikh's representatives.

"This is a defining test for English football's new independent regulator," said Felix Jakens, head of campaigns at human rights group Amnesty International UK.

"Will it allow a senior representative of a government directly implicated in mass human rights violations to take control of one of the country's oldest football clubs? The regulator must ask these questions and answer them transparently."

With Premier League side Newcastle United already owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Amnesty International said any stake bought by Al-Sheikh "would mark a significant expansion of Saudi Arabia's footprint in English football".

Amnesty say 356 people were executed in Saudi Arabia last year - a new record which has been condemned by human rights groups.

"The serious questions surrounding Saudi involvement in sport anywhere in the world are just as relevant here," said Jakens.

"Al-Sheikh is not a private businessman. He is the chairman of Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority., external"

Al-Sheikh has previously had takeover talks at Bristol City and shown interest in investing in Southampton and Millwall in the past.

His latest interest in Derby and existing links to Newcastle United's backers will also raise questions around multi-club ownership in English football.

The Premier League's owners' and directors' test forbids any individual or entity from indirectly or directly determining the management of more than one English league club.

Rams owner David Clowes, the Derbyshire property developer that bought the club out of administration in the summer of 2022, has been looking for new investors since 2024. Clowes has previously said he could be open to selling upwards of 80% of his share in the club.

Derby's fan base is split on the potential investment, with some revelling in the possibilities of what a billionaire's involvement could mean for the club, while others have expressed ethical objections.

Rams fan Nick Webster, who featured on a recent BBC Radio Derby Sportscene at Six discussion about Al-Sheikh's move to get involved in the East Midlands side, said there is "no skirting around" how the fanbase will be divided.

"Many are excited by the billions that potentially could be invested, and then there are the human rights and all the other issues that are going on. Then there will be people in the middle, and it will make a lot of people uncomfortable," Webster said.

Derby County supporter Sam Jones is a boxing manager who has worked with Al-Sheikh. The 37-year-old said he was "excited straight away" by the prospect of the Saudi sport supremo helping bankroll the Rams' ambitions of getting back to the Premier League after almost two decades away.

Jones said the boxing spectacle that Al-Sheikh took to the Pyramids of Giza in May – which was headlined by Usyk's world title fight with Rico Verhoeven, and included his own fighter Jack Catterall on the undercard – was an eye-catching example of what he has been able to deliver.

"In my 10 years in boxing I've been to some very mad places, and my fighter Jack has just won a world title [WBA 'regular' welterweight belt] on the foot of the pyramids," Jones told BBC Radio Derby.

"Before Jack's ring walk, about half an hour before, there was a bit of a sandstorm. It was completely crazy. But to have that type of vision for boxing, to put on a show there, you've got to have serious ambition.

"And if Turki Al-Sheikh does take over the club or invest heavily in the club, whatever he's doing, and he puts in a quarter of the effort that he has done with boxing, making all the biggest fights come true, then Derby County fans need to be very excited."

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