The Premier League is claiming a Saudi government-owned satellite firm is linked to illegal screening of matches across the Middle East and north Africa.

There have been suggestions that Arabsat’s piracy operation is part of a wider political dispute between Saudi Arabia and its regional political rival Qatar.

The Qatari beIN Media Group bought the expensive right to broadcast Premier League matches across the Middle East and north Africa two years ago but has been complaining for nearly a year that it has become the victim of a massive Saudi-based piracy operation.

Saudi Arabia has been mounting an economic boycott of Qatar since June 2017 using a variety of techniques to isolate and weaken the state’s economy in a bitter dispute over Qatar’s independent-minded foreign policy.