Fabrizio Romano Credit: Fabrizio Romano
By Sean Keeley on

Fabrizio Romano has built a reputation as one of the most reliable soccer transfer reporters in the world.

The Italian insider and influencer has also earned a reputation for questionable ethics and allegedly taking money to spread rumors.

He did himself no favors on the latter Tuesday when he posted a video ad on social media extolling the greatness of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid & Relief Centre, a Saudi Arabian government agency focused on humanitarian relief.

“King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, over ten years since its inception. The center has implemented 4,212 projects in 113 countries worldwide, reflecting the leading humanitarian role of Saudi Arabia,” Romano said in the two-minute, 14-second video. “The center has launched a number of pioneering qualitative projects, most notably [Project Masam] for clearing Yemeni lands of mines, which has removed 540,000 mines to date.”

With 27 million followers on X and 42 million on Instagram, Romano commands a sizable platform.

The paid video undercuts Romano’s coverage of the Saudi Pro League, inasmuch as that matters to his audience. His coverage of Cristiano Ronaldo’s reported departure from Saudi Arabia amid heightened military attacks in the region, not to mention anything he reports about the state of the league itself, now comes with a built-in concern about its authenticity. To say nothing of the timing of the video, given everything happening in that area of the world.

“Whether Romano filmed this promo just for the check or because he actually buys into Saudi Arabia’s propaganda is immaterial,” wrote Defector’s Luis Paez-Pumar. “Either way, he’s selling his credibility to a country dead set on utilizing soccer, among other enterprises, to launder its international reputation. It’s a minor coup, then, for the country to have such a visible soccer figure promote its preferred narrative as a force for good in the world, uncritically regurgitating statistics that spotlight Saudi Arabia in a positive manner.”

This was far from the only criticism Romano received from the video.

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

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