Renzi: ‘Emir of Qatar & PSG Owner Al Thani Is a Lazio Fan’ | OneFootball

Icon: The Laziali

The Laziali

·7 December 2022

Renzi: ‘Emir of Qatar & PSG Owner Al Thani Is a Lazio Fan’

Article image:Renzi: ‘Emir of Qatar & PSG Owner Al Thani Is a Lazio Fan’

Matteo Renzi, the former Prime Minister of Italy, confirmed that Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, is a fan of Lazio.

The 42-year-old has been the Emir of Qatar since June 2013 and was a key figure in the QSI’s takeover of Paris Saint-Germain in 2011. Al Thani was also central to Qatar’s winning bid for the World Cup hosting rights and has a keen love of football, regularly watching European clashes.


OneFootball Videos


More Stories / News

Speaking to TV Play (via La Lazio Siamo Noi), Renzi discussed Al Thani’s love for Lazio and why he supports the club.

Al Thani, Emir and head of Qatar and owner of Paris Saint-Germain, is a Lazio fan. Why? He was born in the 1980s and saw the 2000 Scudetto won by the Biancocelesti.  I let him have the shirt, which I asked Lotito for by the way.

Renzi then discussed the new tax plan for Serie A clubs and the sustainability of modern football.

Football clubs must learn to manage their budgets, we cannot continue to say that if there is a problem, we beat the state. They judge anyone who says: ‘Manage your money well’ to be a demagogue.  Why does the Premier League have 10-11 times more TV rights than Serie A? Why does a footballer prefer England to Italy?  Because there are people like Lotito who when there is a problem, instead of solving it, he goes to Parliament to have it amended.  I’m not afraid to say things that make me lose consensus, it’s immoral and it’s a disgrace that we go so far as to have to pay the money to Serie A teams in instalments.  Rather it would be better to do it to amateur teams, to culture. But Lotito said that I have a conflict of interest because I support Fiorentina.

Lotito has been in charge of Lazio since 2004 and helped restore stability to the club after the financial difficulties of the early 2000s.

The team recently set up a working partnership with cryptocurrency giants Binance and supporters had been hoping that this would lead to greater investment.

View publisher imprint