Try GOLD - Free
Khelaifi fuels PSG's novel dream in titanic shadow of power
The Guardian
|April 29, 2025
Club's president has a deep sphere of influence and travels to Arsenal desperate for Champions League vision
Nasser al-Khelaifi watches from the Emirates Stadium directors' box tonight; he can reflect that Paris Saint-Germain may be a month from the latest monumental victory of his career. Champions League success has been a long time coming, given the plan of Qatar Sports Investments had been to reign Europe within five years of its takeover in 2011, but the fresh sense of clarity in PSG's approach is on the verge of reaping rich dividends. The serial Ligue 1 winners could soon sit atop club football just as their president rules it from the corridors of power.
Khelaifi is, in the words of one seasoned observer, "the most powerful person in sport that nobody has heard of". That oversight is probably true of a British public to which his influence is yet to cut through. If nothing else the Qatari should receive a more amenable welcome at Arsenal than the one afforded in November by fans of Bayern Munich, who seemed well versed in his various functions when PSG visited.
"Minister, club owner, TV rights holder, Uefa exco member & ECA chairman all in one?" read a banner on the Südkurve. Another accused Khelaifi of being a "plutocrat". The intention was to highlight, in terms for which Bayern later apologised to Khelaifi, the problems inherent in the sheer breadth and depth of power he has come to grasp. Barely a critique of Khelaifi passes without mention of his multiple functions.
At the heart of most rancour is the "double-hatting". This phrase was central to the independent commission judgment that ruled the Premier League's associated party transaction rules were unlawful after a legal challenge from Manchester City. The commission referred to the Premier League as "double-hatting", which it described as "acting as both the regulator of a sporting competition, such as football, and engaging at the same time in economic activity by, for example, the sale of media rights".
This story is from the April 29, 2025 edition of The Guardian.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM The Guardian
The Guardian
Garnacho saves sorry Chelsea from shock defeat by Qarabag
Chelsea’s precision is nowhere to be seen when Enzo Maresca rings the changes.
3 mins
November 06, 2025
The Guardian
Lights, camera, tax break The producer churning out flops funded by Treasury
Only the geekiest film buffs will have heard of Alan Latham, but he is one of the UK's most prolific movie producers.
4 mins
November 06, 2025
The Guardian
Academics tell of 'heavy pressure' from China
UK academics whose research is critical of China say they have been targeted and their universities subjected to “extremely heavy” pressure from Beijing, prompting calls for a fresh look at the sector’s dependence on tuition fee income from Chinese students.
3 mins
November 06, 2025
The Guardian
Lammy's luck is facing an opponent who can't count and has lost track of his gotcha moment
He had one job.
2 mins
November 06, 2025
The Guardian
"The money you get in football means the parasites come'
The former West Ham, Chelsea and England footballer, a gifted maverick who always felt a man out of time, playing a game years ahead of most of his contemporaries, smiles when I ask how old he feels now: \"Forty-four. I'm 44 [this Saturday].
6 mins
November 06, 2025
The Guardian
'A true champion' Hope overflows in New York as the outsider candidate claims victory
Zohran Mamdani's election downtown night party in Brooklyn on Tuesday night saw hundreds of his supporters erupt in applause as the democratic socialist from Queens was elected the next mayor of New York City.
4 mins
November 06, 2025
The Guardian
Confusion at the gates Why system can't keep track of inmates
The mistaken release of a second foreign prisoner has forced ministers to once again revaluate their security and release procedures, and will once again shine a spotlight on the well-documented problems at HMP Wandsworth.
2 mins
November 06, 2025
The Guardian
Lammy under pressure after two more prisoners mistakenly freed
David Lammy is under mounting pressure after two more prisoners, including a convicted foreign sex offender, were mistakenly freed days after the justice secretary introduced stringent checks for jails.
4 mins
November 06, 2025
The Guardian
High-speed rail network could cover Europe by 2040, says EU
Breakfast in Berlin, lunch in Copenhagen, with a fast and easy train journey to pass the morning?
2 mins
November 06, 2025
The Guardian
Tale of two city mayors Mamdani joins Khan on divided world stage
While the soon-to-be first Muslim mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, was in the final throes of his mayoral campaign on a brisk day in New York, Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim mayor of London, was wrapping up a two-day climate summit in a steamy if overcast Rio de Janeiro.
4 mins
November 06, 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size