“Like all content creators and rights owners, our business model is predicated on the ability to market and sell protected rights and we will take all available action to support the investment made in the League by our legitimate broadcast partners.”

Mr Sharp said it was the responsibility of rights suppliers – such as the FA and Premier League – to ensure that these rights aren’t taken by others.

“I’m sure the Premier League are working out what to do, which is why they’re not saying too much about it,” he added.

Sophie Jordan, General Counsel of beIN MEDIA GROUP, said: “For the past 10 months, beoutQ and its Saudi backers have been illegally pirating our proprietary sports content on an industrial scale, brazenly stealing IP and making it their own. If left unchecked, this will have a dramatic and long-term impact on the grass roots funding of the sports that we all enjoy.”

In June last year Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt launched a diplomatic and transport blockade of Qatar accusing it of cosying up to Iran and supporting terrorism, which Doha denies.

beIN has paid billions of pounds to secure exclusive rights to the world’s most prestigious tournaments, sometimes offering more than the market value to secure its primacy in the Middle East.

But now it faces the nightmare scenario of watching a bootlegging satellite service offering access to all 64 matches of the World Cup, and being unable to stop it.

Despite saying it supports beIN’s anti-piracy efforts, Fifa has been reluctant to openly criticise Saudi Arabia.

Observers point to recently-announced Saudi investment in a £15bn Club World Cup which football’s governing body hopes to launch in 2021.

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