(Bloomberg) — The Premier League says it will examine the human rights records of potential football club owners, following Chelsea FC and Newcastle United FC ownership controversy.

A senior Premier League executive told lawmakers on a parliamentary committee that the league was in talks with human rights experts.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by Britain over his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and much of the club’s business was frozen, while the Saudi Arabia-backed takeover of Newcastle by a Saudi-backed consortium in October prompted Amnesty International to lobby Europe’s richest football competition. royal human rights record.

Helen MacNamara, the Premier League’s director of policy and corporate affairs, said the owners and directors’ trial was currently under review and the league had spoken with Amnesty to explore possible options.

“How would it work if we wanted to incorporate an element of human rights testing into the process? We’re trying to define and decide what it’s like,” said MacNamara.

League shareholders will discuss plans in the coming weeks and months, he added.

Chelsea sale

Appearing before parliament’s digital, culture, media and sport committee, MacNamara and Minister for Sport Nigel Huddleston were asked about issues surrounding British sports team ownership.

Abramovich sold Chelsea before England imposed sanctions on March 10, a process made even more urgent after the club was barred from conducting regular business. MacNamara said he was “very confident a buyer could be found” for Chelsea and that the sale process was currently “quite complete”.

MacNamara said the league hopes the sale will be made before May 31, when the short-term license that allows Chelsea to operate despite the sanctions expires. “The government needs to issue an operating permit so that the club can be sold,” he said.

Huddleston said the government would immediately respond to a recent football review that looked at club ownership and recommended an independent regulator for the sport. He added pressure on the Premier League, saying the current test “should be stronger”.

“The owner-director test, as it’s often called today, was critical, it’s not currently working the way I think we all want it to work and so it needs to change,” Huddleston said.

“I fully understand the point about having an element of integrity in it.”

original note:

Premier League Considers Human Rights Test for Future Owners

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