(Express) – Conservative MP Julian Knight has supported calls for a law that would ban despots and human rights abusers from owning British clubs.
It comes as a major sports think tank — the FIFA Ethics and Regulations Watch — has issued a report demanding changes.
Published today, it calls for updates to the current “fit and proper test” of potential owners, including banning anyone who has been “complicit in human trafficking, slavery, torture, or other criminal breaches of human rights”.
It follows attempts by a Saudi Arabian consortium to buy Newcastle United.
Concerns were raised over human rights abuses in the country and links to the illegal unlicensed broadcasting of matches.
Mr Knight said:
“It is important that changes are brought in to tackle the issue of ‘sportswashing’.
“We need owners of clubs that fans deserve.”
