Saudi Prince Ditches Plans To Buy Out Greek Football Club Panathinaikos

Saudi Prince Faisal bin Abdulaziz Nasser bin Abdulaziz Al Saud announced Saturday that "he is abandoning plans to buy out financially-troubled" Superleague Greece club Panathinaikos, according to the AFP. Faisal said he made the move after the Athens team's shareholders rejected "a very comprehensive and totally guaranteed buyout proposal." Faisal: "We tried until the very last day with a barrage of sincere attempts from our part to accomplish the deal, unfortunately the club, revealing its real mood, rejected this request." The prince had claimed that he was "ready to immediately invest €28M ($36.6M) into Panathinaikos if allowed to gain a minimum 67.5% of the team's shares and to replace the current board of directors of the club." His plans "later called for a further investment into constructing a new stadium at a cost of €150M ($196M) and pledging another €40M ($52.3) in player signings" (AFP, 1/6).