Sheik Abdullah drops Spanish football team’s sponsorship deal for religious reasons
Because Islam does not allow gambling, Sheik Abdullah has dropped the sponsorship deal between William Hill and his football team Málaga CF.
On of Spain’s La Liga clubs, the Málaga Club de Fútbol is now under new ownership having recently been bought by Sheik Abdullah Bin Nasser Al Thani for ten and a half million euros. He paid this much despite the fact that the club carries 36m euros of debt. Sheikh Abdullah has also announced plans to drop one of the club’s main sponsors.
The club had a contract with William Hill, one of the leading sportsbooks in the UK. Their sports betting website sponsored Málaga CF’s jerseys. The contract was due to run until 2012 but Sheikh Abdullah has ended the contract early as Islam forbids gambling.
Sheikh Abdullah’s business associate Abdullah Ghubn said, “We don’t want to turn everything upside down and cancel contracts but let’s put it this way: I’m a smoker and I don’t smoke in my home because these are the rules and I want to protect my family.”
This is not the first time that Spanish football has seen this situation. In 2006 the Muslim striker Frederic Kanoute wanted to drop the jersey sponsor 888 Casino as he did not like seeing the casino’s logo on player’s jerseys, however, he was eventually persuaded.
Slot but surely Spanish gambling laws are changing to allow internet gambling, however, the regulation requirements are not very clear yet. Recently the Spanish Basketball Federation dropped its 2010 FIBA World Championship sponsorship deal with PokerStars because the site is not yet licensed to provide internet gambling within Spain. It is not known whether a similar issue effected Sheikh Abdullah’s decision to drop William Hill’s sponsorship deal.
