The Political Economy of Football V2

In UK politics Tony Blair has been insisting that everything is best left to the market with government following business friendly policies.   Football fan Andy Burnham insists that you can’t leave everything to the market. PSG are the most successful state project in football. That is worth remembering as they dazzle you on the pitch. Qatar Sports Investments bought PSG in 2011, the deal concluded just under a year after the tiny Gulf state of Qatar was named host nation for the 2022 World Cup. The semantics behind criticisms of their motivations may vary: sportswashing, soft power, geopolitical influence, an elaborate state marketing exercise. Whatever term you use, it all adds up to essentially the same thing: Qatar bought a famous but hitherto underachieving European football club, in a desirable location, in order to further the interests of Qatar. From a football perspective, it has worked spectacularly. PSG have won 12 of the past 14 French titles and last season...

Paris Saint-Germain and Internazionale go head to head in the Champions League final later today. The French heavyweights would be first-time winners, while the Italian Serie A runners-up are chasing a fourth triumph. Off the pitch, the two clubs say a lot about the state of the game. PSG are owned by Qatar Sports Investments, a vehicle of the Gulf state that took majority ownership of the club from 2011. Distressed debt investor Oaktree seized control of Inter from Suning last year after the Chinese retail group failed to repay a €400mn loan in time. Whereas Inter will feel confident of defying the odds after beating FC Barcelona in the semi-finals, the Italian club’s finances are also overshadowed by PSG. The French side’s operating revenue, bolstered by sponsorships with Qatar Airways and Visit Qatar, came to more than €800mn in 2023-24, roughly double the equivalent figure at Inter, according to Football Benchmark. PSG’s staff costs of €659mn equated to 82 per cent of those...

In this blog post Professor Simon Chadwick raises a number of issues in relation to Fifa and its finances, but in particular suggests that Qatar might have to share the hosting of the 2022 World Cup with the possible beneficiary being Saudi Arabia: What is Fifa's game?