The International Bank of Qatar has denied reports linking it to the ongoing rights-sales process in Italy for Serie A, the top division of football in the country.
Earlier this month, clubs from Serie A reportedly rejected a lucrative proposal from the private sector bank related to the league’s broadcast rights.
The Calcio e Finanza website, citing newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, said IBQ had put forward an offer to Lega Serie A, the governing body of the league, providing a package of financial guarantees worth €13bn ($15.56bn) over 10 years.
The offer relied mainly on Serie A’s future income from broadcast rights, with commissions to the bank if agreements exceeded the €1.3bn per season mark. The offer needed the backing of 14 of Serie A’s 20 clubs, but reportedly only received 13 votes in favour. Fiorentina, Inter Milan, Juventus and Torino are said to have voted against the offer, while Sassuolo abstained and Roma and Napoli were absent from the meeting.
Offers under the tender process are being accepted through to today (Monday), with bids set to be analysed by the Lega and its clubs. Italian newspaper La Repubblica yesterday (Sunday) said IBQ was working on a new offer, with a 10-year guarantee, which improved on the terms of the previous proposal.
However, in a statement, Myriam Abou Haidar, marketing and corporate communications manager at IBQ, said: “IBQ provides core banking services in the State of Qatar and has never engaged in any form of acquisition of broadcasting rights related to any sport activity, therefore we were utterly surprised of the news.
“Consequently, IBQ refutes having ever offered any form of bidding worth $15.56bn (or worth any value whatsoever) to Lega Serie A. In fact, IBQ has never established any contact with Lega Serie A in any respect whatsoever and has, as a banking institution, no direct or indirect interest whatsoever in Lega’s broadcasting rights or any other broadcasting rights. The news is unfortunately groundless, misleading and fake.”
Lega Serie A, the organising body of the top division, this month issued the tender documents for its next set of domestic broadcast rights, with €570m set as the minimum price sought to acquire television rights to all 380 games per season.
Lega Serie A posted the documents on its website on January 6, having approved the process on January 4. The rights on offer are for the three seasons spanning 2018-19 to 2020-21, and two separate documents have been issued – one for pay-television operators, digital terrestrial television platforms and internet outlets, along with a subordinate tender intended for independent financial intermediaries.