{"id":290020,"date":"2023-09-09T01:35:09","date_gmt":"2023-09-09T01:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/?p=290020"},"modified":"2023-09-09T01:35:09","modified_gmt":"2023-09-09T01:35:09","slug":"saudi-arabias-ministry-of-sport-imposes-media-blackout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/soccer\/saudi-arabias-ministry-of-sport-imposes-media-blackout\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia&apos;s Ministry of Sport imposes media BLACKOUT"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Ministry of Sport imposes a media BLACKOUT after their defeat by Costa Rica at St James&#8217; Park, preventing new boss Roberto Mancini from speaking to the press<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Saudi Arabia lost their friendly against Costa Rica 3-1 at St James&#8217; Park\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>But there was no post-match reaction after a media blackout was imposed\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport&#8217;s podcast It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Ministry of Sport imposed a media blackout after their 3-1 friendly defeat by Costa Rica at St James&#8217; Park, it has emerged.<\/p>\n<p>Roberto Mancini&#8217;s first match in charge of the Saudi team was marred by the loss and he was later prevented from conducting his usual post-match press duties.<\/p>\n<p>Typically, a manager will address both the written and broadcast media after every match regardless of the result, with only exceedingly rare exceptions made.<\/p>\n<p>As a result of the blackout being imposed, Mancini was barred from discussing the loss on Tyneside. Newcastle United were not involved in the decision.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, the silence was instead ordered by the Saudi government, Sky Sports claim.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/09\/00\/75234129-0-image-a-7_1694217357228.jpg\" height=\"453\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Ministry of Sport imposed a media blackout after their 3-1 defeat by Costa Rica<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/09\/00\/75234107-0-image-m-9_1694217370622.jpg\" height=\"481\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>New manager Roberto Mancini was prevented from conducting his post-match press duties<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>The friendly was the first of two hosted at St James&#8217; Park during the international break and less than 5,000 supporters are believed to have been in attendance.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Before the game, a Newcastle supporters&#8217; group staged a protest against the controversial use of the historic ground by the Saudi national team.<\/p>\n<p>The &#8216;NUFC Fans Against Sportswashing&#8217; group held aloft posters of several young men they said were on death row in the kingdom &#8216;for demonstrating&#8217;. Mancini may well have been questioned on the protest during his press conference.<\/p>\n<p>After the stadium was given the green light to hold the matches, the connection between Newcastle and the Saudi state will have again been scrutinised.<\/p>\n<p>The Premier League were given legally-binding assurances during the lengthy takeover saga in 2021 that the Saudi government would have no control over the running of the club, but this has since been called into question.<\/p>\n<p>Newcastle chairman and Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Public Investment Fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, a regular face at St James&#8217; Park, was described as a &#8216;sitting minister of the government&#8217; in a US court case involving LIV Golf earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/09\/00\/75234207-0-image-a-12_1694217430183.jpg\" height=\"415\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The Saudi Ministry of Sport is overseen by\u00a0Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Saud (pictured above)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/09\/00\/75234147-0-image-a-10_1694217399039.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>A supporters&#8217; protest against the use of St James&#8217; Park for the friendly was held pre-match<\/p>\n<p>Former Italy boss Mancini was named the new Saudi manager last month. It was reported in Italy that his contract until 2027 is worth \u00a321.5million after tax per year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He resigned from his role with the Azzurri on August 13, ending a five-year spell in which Italy won Euro 2020 but missed out on qualification for the 2022 World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Herve Renard stepped down as Saudi Arabia&#8217;s coach in March.<\/p>\n<p>The nation will look to win its fourth Asian Cup title early next year, with the continental championship, Mancini&#8217;s first in charge, to be staged in Qatar.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the summer, the PIF undertook extensive investment into clubs in Saudi Arabia, including Al-Ittihad, Al-Ahli, Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal. This allowed them to entice an array of the world&#8217;s best players across to the kingdom in eye-watering deals.<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12498149\/Saudi-Arabia-Ministry-Sport-media-BLACKOUT-Costa-Rica-St-James-Park-Roberto-Mancini.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Ministry of Sport imposes a media BLACKOUT after their defeat by Costa Rica at St James&#8217; Park, preventing new boss Roberto Mancini from speaking to the press Saudi Arabia lost their friendly against Costa Rica 3-1 at St James&#8217; Park\u00a0 But there was no post-match reaction after a media blackout was imposed\u00a0 Listen&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Saudi Arabia&amp;apos;s Ministry of Sport imposes media BLACKOUT - Tell My Sport<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/soccer\/saudi-arabias-ministry-of-sport-imposes-media-blackout\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saudi Arabia&amp;apos;s Ministry of Sport imposes media BLACKOUT - Tell My Sport\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Ministry of Sport imposes a media BLACKOUT after their defeat by Costa Rica at St James&#8217; 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