{"id":1119569,"date":"2026-07-30T06:30:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T06:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1119569\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T06:30:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T06:30:19","slug":"saudi-boxing-chief-turki-alalshikh-on-verge-of-breaking-into-english-football-with-efl-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1119569\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh on verge of breaking into English football with EFL club"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saudi boxing supremo Turki Alalshikh is on the verge of breaking into English football with Derby County.<\/p>\n

According to reports, the independent football regulator is set to make a decision on Alalshikh’s investment into the Championship club next week.<\/p>\n

\"Turki<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Alalshikh has transformed boxing since his involvement in the sportCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

The Daily Telegraph’s John Percy states that the EFL have completed all the necessary background checks<\/a> on the Saudi Arabian businessman.<\/p>\n

And sources suggest that the Rams<\/a> are confident that the major investment will be approved after the interest first emerged<\/a> in May.<\/p>\n

Derby have been out of the Premier League since 2008 when they recorded the worst season in Premier League history.<\/p>\n

They managed to accumulate just 11 points and have been into League One since then as well.<\/p>\n

Read more on football<\/p>\n

But Alalshikh is prepared to invest heavily and try to return the Rams to England’s top flight.<\/p>\n

This wouldn’t be the first time that Alalshikh has involved himself in football, though.<\/p>\n

He has owned Spanish club Almeria and Egyptian side Pyramids FC in the past but has been looking to invest in EFL clubs<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Alalshikh’s wealth<\/p>\n

The latest reports suggest that Alalshikh is worth $2.8billion<\/a>, and he has accumulated that wealth from various means.<\/p>\n

He is the chairman of the Saudi GEA and is heavily involved in boxing.<\/p>\n

Alalshikh is one of the leading figureheads in Riyadh Season, which has transformed boxing and put on some of the biggest fights in history.<\/p>\n

\"Turki<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Alalshikh doesn’t lack ambition or moneyCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

He is widely seen as the mastermind behind the ‘Battle of Britain<\/a>‘ between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.<\/p>\n

A new boxing venture between he and Dana White and Frank Warren known as Zuffa Boxing has been brought into existence with big plans.<\/p>\n

Alalashikh is also a close advisor to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman.<\/p>\n

Advice<\/p>\n

talkSPORT’s Simon Jordan revealed last year that he advised Alalshikh on which English club to buy.<\/p>\n

So, his interest in English football has been around for over a year now.<\/p>\n

He actually told the Saudi supremo to buy Sheffield Wednesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Derby could be set for a very bright futureCredit: Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Speaking about that conversation in 2025, Jordan said: \u201cIf I was buying a football club and I was really motivated and had your kind of dough, I would buy Sheffield Wednesday.”<\/p>\n

Expanding on that, Jordan said: \u201cI told him that. We\u2019ll see what they do; they are captains of their own ship, aren\u2019t they?<\/p>\n

\u201cBe careful what you wish for. We\u2019ve already got enough foreign investment in our football clubs, but if this is the direction of travel, that\u2019s the way I\u2019d go.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s a big football club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a reason why Hillsborough got used up to a point, for FA Cup semi-finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019ve been to that club, I\u2019ve watched it, I\u2019ve seen the fan base. I know the Saudis can look across the city at Sheffield United and think their mate who owns that football club hasn\u2019t had the greatest of times over there, but I think it\u2019s a powerhouse.”<\/p>\n

\u201cYou buy a powerhouse like Sheffield Wednesday that\u2019s in Yorkshire, not just Sheffield, that could be garnered and pushed forward, no disrespect to [current owner, Dejphon] Chansiri, but somehow or another he\u2019s managed to steal defeat from the jaws of victory.”<\/p>\n

Read More on talkSPORT<\/p>\n

In the end, Alalshikh chose not to take Jordan’s advice but his interest in English football never went away.<\/p>\n

He is now one step away from adding Derby to a growing portfolio of sporting acquisitions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saudi boxing supremo Turki Alalshikh is on the verge of breaking into English football with Derby County. According…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1119570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,9030,17303,305007,6506,79,7080,16,15],"class_list":["post-1119569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-championship","tag-derby-county","tag-derrby-county-investment","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-sports","tag-turki-alalshikh","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1119569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1119569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1119569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1119570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1119569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1119569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1119569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}