Mubadala’s Al Mubarak, Fanatics’ Rubin headline Budapest huddle

Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Group CEO of the UAE’s Mubadala sovereign wealth fund and Chairman of Manchester City, joined a dinner with other football executives and investors in Budapest last week to discuss the financial future of the sport.

The gathering was organized by Michael Rubin, founder and CEO of the sports merchandising firm Fanatics, and took place ahead of Saturday’s UEFA Champions League final, which Paris Saint-Germain won, according to a post on Rubin’s Instagram feed.

Among those participating were UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, Chairman of Qatar Sports Investments, which owns PSG; Shahid Khan, owner of Fulham F.C. and the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai who owns the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, and Robert Kraft, owner of the NFL’s New England Patriots.

The dinner’s guestlist highlighted growing Gulf influence in professional soccer, with Qatar’s ownership of PSG, the UAE’s majority ownership of Manchester City, and the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s majority stake in Newcastle.