How PSG’s ‘kingmaker’ seized chance to reshape football’s future | OneFootball

If you are one of the UK’s many new padel enthusiasts, it’s ultimately because of one man, who you might not expect. He is going to be prominent at Saturday’s Champions League final, and has already appeared in a social media-friendly CBS interview with Micah Richards after the semi-final.

That is Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi. A former tennis professional, he saw the potential in padel, and put Qatar’s immense financial weight behind the new sport. Qatar Sports Investments, who also own PSG, control Premier Padel and the World Padel Tour.

The world’s fastest-growing sport feels like a curious place to start a discussion about the world’s most popular sport, and its biggest club game, but there is a point.

Those who know Al-Khelaifi say he “sees around corners, picks opportunities”. That has definitely been the case with padel, but it has arguably been most visible with European football, and what happened after the Super League and sparked a secret ‘war’ for European football’s future.

Numerous sources insist PSG were involved right up until “the last minute”. They counter that they were never members, and Al-Khelaifi had a principled opposition. A huge opportunity was nevertheless seized.

While Qatar have managed to get in on the ground floor with padel, they have gradually made it to the top of the European club game.

The resignations from the European Club Association (ECA) that followed the Super League allowed Al-Khelaifi to rise to the chair of that organisation, even if those close to him insist he rejected requests to fill that role for three days after that April 2021 crisis. Al-Khelaifi has still run with it since. The ECA, which grew from the big clubs’ ‘G14’ and now represents all those in European competition, has drastically expanded in scale and influence. It is much more than a lobby group.

The ECA has established a joint venture with Uefa, called UC3, where they both have 50-50 of the Champions League. This control is what the big clubs always wanted, right through the talks that led to the Super League.

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Ousmane Dembele has led Paris Saint-Germain’s attack this season (Getty)

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Marquinhos has been a mainstay of PSG over the years (AP)

And who is at the top? An official whose ultimate responsibility is to the Emir of Qatar. Rival executives have questioned whether this is appropriate for the European game. LaLiga’s Javier Tebas is one of many to criticise Al-Khelaifi’s “conflict of interests”, given he also runs a major broadcaster in the form of BeIn Sport.

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It is why this weekend may not just crown PSG’s final rise as a club, to get what Qatar always wanted, in the Champions League itself. The trophy arriving in a first full season of the new format may also symbolically complete Al-Khelaifi’s own rise, as well as the evolution of the competition into something more.

The point has already been stressed about how this might just be the Super League by another name, with Uefa’s approval, driven by greater powers. The opening stage is now literally a ‘super league’, given that it features 36 teams and runs parallel to domestic competitions. The absurd entry of six English clubs next season is almost too brazen, given the original plans.

Both Uefa and the ECA have nevertheless been keen to celebrate the new format’s success. There is delight at how CBS had a record audience for a non-final game with Inter Milan v Barcelona. That isn’t really down to any change, though. It’s merely the old-fashioned jeopardy of true knock-out football, that can’t be engineered.

Either way, the next stage is to really capitalise on this American popularity. Uefa and the ECA have gone into partnership with US agency Relevent, whose speciality is big games in the States. That isn’t necessarily about finals in New York, however, but maximising “fan engagement” with new ideas and increasing revenues by 10-20 per cent. Supporter groups like the FSA would see that as “entertainment elements” like pre-game shows that they would actively oppose. Who actually wants it?

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Paris Saint Germain's Qatari president Nasser al-Khelaifi is head of the ECA, which has become the ‘Kingmaker’ (AFP via Getty Images)

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His power is growing and could be boosted by Champions League success for PSG this weekend (AFP via Getty Images)

Al-Khelaifi is otherwise described, approvingly, as someone who “drives change”. He is very hard working, with a ferocious temper, but has a charm. That has worked well, given a lot of rival executives say he isn’t especially liked. The European football structure has certainly changed.

Under the Qatari, the ECA has almost become a third major institution alongside Fifa and Uefa. Al-Khelaifi is very close to Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin, and has a good relationship with Fifa counterpart Gianni Infantino. Insiders even describe this ECA as “a kingmaker”. If there’s a dispute, the side they take usually wins. The body was crucial to the Club World Cup getting off the ground.

“They are pulling levers without people even realising,” one senior source says.

Such politics are intriguing in light of the recent row about Infantino’s late arrival at the Fifa Congress in Paraguay, and how quickly Uefa anger was quelled with a conciliatory statement.

Some insiders insist this is all consistent with what reformers have called for. European courts are now taking a dim view on Fifa and Uefa serving as both regulators and competition organisers with commercial interests.

This ECA-led system dilutes that – but should it be at the behest of bigger clubs, and bigger powers? The ECA would point to their expanded membership, how everything is democratically run, and that Al-Khelaifi’s leadership pushed the Europa Conference League. The Qatari himself is said to want the ECA to be more recognised as a brand, in terms of the good work it does in terms of legal and financial services to clubs, as well as the women’s game.

Critics would say the Union of European Clubs had to be established to give scores of affected clubs a voice, that numerous domestic leagues are fearing for their financial futures, and that they can’t trust the ECA to consider the whole ecosystem.

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Uefa President Aleksander Ceferin and PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi (EPA)

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QSI's takeover of PSG led to the club taking a financial stranglehold of Ligue 1 in the years that followed (AFP/Getty)

That ecosystem is increasingly shaped by the positioning for the next land grab, which is in that burgeoning US soccer market, and what happens next with streaming.

That’s where some attuned figures also see a new era. Much has been made of the Premier League no longer having a real rival, but there is a fear that is exactly what the ECA want the Champions League to be – and eventually to play on weekends.

Those on the European side literally laugh about such complaints, given the Premier League’s own status as a super league. At the same time, major continental club executives actively want to make English clubs weaker while building something of their own.

That might be logical, and necessary, but it also illustrates one of modern football’s endless arms races. Premier League clubs talk of consequently having to go bolder and more global.

So much of this still comes back to these persistent modern themes, how football is looked at as a commodity to be used, rather than a cultural good. It’s why the nature of leadership is so crucial.

The Champions League has certainly led the way in the “financialisation” of football, where virtually everything is looked at in monetary terms. You only had to watch the Europa League final or the Premier League’s last day.

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Paris Saint-Germain fans celebrate victory with flares after the final whistle in the Champions League semi-final against Arsenal (PA)

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PSG fans celebrate in the streets of Paris (The Associated Press)

At the centre of that is the ECA, headed by PSG’s Qatari president, whose state primarily see political value in the game.

“People do think that is outrageous,” one source says. “If you’re Qatar, you’d say he’s a genius. He’s a major governance figure, Qatar Airways a main sponsor.”

Qatar’s club may now win the Champions League. It didn’t even take a game of padel for networking.