Thus Paris Saint-Germain became a Qatari-owned club

In the summer of 2011, Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), a subsidiary of the Qatar State Investment Fund, bought the French club Paris Saint-Germain.

The history of France and Qatar includes the French presidents, the powerful football lord Michel Platini and the man who appears as the spider in the web: Nasser al-Khelaifi.

The simple answer to the question of why Qatar chose PSG is that they were a relatively cheap club to buy, with great potential, in one of the biggest “one-club cities” in Europe. The long answer is longer than that.

Perhaps the most important is the date on November 23, 2010.

In nine days it will be decided which country will be able to host the 2022 World Cup. The time has come for the rewritten lunch at the Elysée in Paris. The organizer is French president (and PSG supporter) Nicolas Sarkozy.

UEFA President Michel Platini is invited. Also present was Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, who has been Emir of Qatar since 2013 (but who was crown prince at the time of the meeting, about which Platini was then concerned).

Only the participants know exactly what was said during that lunch.

What everyone knows is that nine days later Platini voted for the World Cup for Qatar, that QSI then bought Paris Saint-Germain and that Al Jazeera bought the broadcasting rights to Ligue 1. France sold planes to Qatar while Qatar bought real estate in Paris and made far-reaching investments in French working life.

I knew Sarkozy wanted Qatar to buy PSG.

Platini then said that his vote for Qatar had nothing to do with lunch. According to him, the purchase of PSG was not even discussed.

– But I knew that Sarkozy wanted Qatar to buy PSG. I understood that Sarkozy supported the candidacy of Qatar, sa han until The Guardian 2013.

– But he never asked me, nor did he ask me to vote for Russia (for WC 2018). You know my personality. I always vote for what is good for football. Not for myself, not for France.

Sarkozy also later denied the information.

What would you do if your president asked you for something?

If you ask Sepp Blatter, former president of Fifa, the answer is different.

– Thanks to the four votes of Platini and his group (of UEFA representatives), the World Cup went to Qatar instead of the USA. This is the truth, Blatter told the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger in early November according to The Guardian.

– Platini told me he had been invited to the Elysee Palace, where French President Sarkozy had just had lunch with the Crown Prince of Qatar. Sarkozy told Platini: “Look what you and your UEFA colleagues can do for Qatar when the World Cup is awarded”.

When Blatter asked what happened next, Platini’s response is said to have been:

– Sepp, what would you do if your president asked you for something?

– I told him it wasn’t a problem for me because we don’t have a president in Switzerland, concluded Blatter.

For the record, it should be said that Blatter certainly has his motivations. In his role as FIFA president at the time, it was he in Zurich in December 2010 who presented the note announcing that Qatar had been awarded the hosting rights for the 2022 World Cup.

Today neither Blatter nor Platini remain in place. Both have been banned from football and are also involved a Swiss legal process.

One thing leads to another. In the summer of 2011, QSI took control of Paris Saint-Germain.

Since then, stars like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, David Beckham, Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi have worn PSG shirts, often with airlines like Qatar Airways or Emirates on the front.

In the same summer, Al Jazeera Media Network (Qatar’s media company) bought the broadcasting rights of Ligue 1, thus dividing the rights pie with Canal Plus. Since then, BeIn Sports has been launched.

In the middle of everything says Nasser al-Khelaifi, a former tennis player from Qatar. He holds the presidency of PSG, QSI, as well as BeIn Media Group and BeIn Sports.

Furthermore, he is a minister in the government of Qatar and has good connections with the Qatari royal family.

This brings us back to Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. He who was present at the Elysée at that lunch in November 2010, he who has been Emir of Qatar since 2013. He co-founded QSI and, like al-Khelaifi, has sporting ties.

– We first met when the Crown Prince was eight years old. We met through tennis, we played together. I have a good relationship with him, al-Khelaifi said The Guardian in a 2012 interview.

Nasser al-Khelaifi is obviously also a tennis manager, in his role as president of the Qatar Tennis Association.

He also has some power in Europe, as a member of UEFA’s executive committee and in his role as president of the powerful European Club Association (ECA), the organization supposed to represent the interests of European clubs.

So what happened Med Paris Saint-Germain?

The club trail behind their French league rivals in the financial tables, and it’s hard these days to find much enthusiasm about who will win Ligue 1 (although Montpellier, Monaco and Lille have triumphed over the years). However, there has not yet been any success in the Champions League.

Players in their (hugely successful) academy, such as Kingsley Coman, Christopher Nkunku and Moussa Diaby, looked elsewhere as PSG spent billions and billions on new signings.

At the same time, there have been some shake-ups in the club. It was not painless to synchronize the star trio Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé. The latter, who is expected to be the point man for both France and PSG for many years to come, had long been rumored for Real Madrid.

This spring, one would decision if the future finally arrives.

Now called of France President Emmanuel Macron.

He himself will go to the WC in Qatar if the French reach the semi-finals. Before the championship he spoke that questions about host country eligibility should have been raised already when the country was awarded the host country.

– We should not politicize sport, he said.

Mbappé eventually extended that contract with PSG, he later said New York Times on contact with a certain Macron during the spring.

– He said: “I want you to stay.” I don’t want you to leave now. You are so important to this country.”

– It’s done. When the president tells you, it matters.