Latest news with #NasserAlKhelaifi
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
PSG help Lyon by settling Bradley Barcola transfer
It was only a matter of months ago that Paris Saint-Germain were on bad terms with Olympique Lyonnais. However, they are now offering a helping hand following the DNCG's decision to relegate Lyon to Ligue 2. John Textor's frequent outbursts and claims of 'competing against a state' in reference to PSG and their Qatari owners saw relations between the two clubs sour. Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Textor notably came to loggerheads in a leaked Zoom call last season, during which the latter called the former a 'cowboy from I don't even know where', adding that the American does not know how to run a club. Advertisement There has since been a rapprochement between the two clubs as evidenced by PSG's latest gesture. Lyon have been relegated to Ligue 2 by the DNCG. That decision is being appealed, with OL now seeking to provide evidence of their financial stability. PSG have offered a helping hand. Les Parisiens bought Bradley Barcola from Les Gones in 2023 for a fee of €50m. Rather than continuing to pay off the transfer in instalments lasting numerous seasons, what remains to be paid will be paid immediately, as reported by France Info and confirmed by RMC Sport. It is a boost for a club looking to convince the authorities to allow them to compete in Ligue 1 next season. GFFN | Luke Entwistle
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Kylian Mbappe files lawsuit against PSG for attempted extorsion
Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe is always quick to espouse his affection for Paris Saint-Germain, his boyhood club. Yet when it comes to those leading the institution, the relationship remains fraught after a controversial exit from Parc des Princes. Mbappe left PSG last summer on a free at the end of his contract, agreeing a five-year deal with Real Madrid to much fanfare. However this did not go down well at PSG, and in particular with Qatar Sports Investment CEO and PSG CEO Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and Mbappe claims he was not paid for the months of April, May and June of 2024. Mbappe now has a long-running legal dispute with PSG over €55m in unpaid wages. Mbappe files fresh lawsuit against PSG Now Mbappe has returned to the courts again. As per Diario AS, who carry the report from AFP, this Tuesday Mbappe's lawyers filed a lawsuit against an unnamed individual at PSG for attempted extorsion and harassment. The French forward is referring to his isolation from the rest of the team in the summer of 2023, as a method of applying pressure on him to sign a new contract, and be allowed to return to action. Mbappe is fighting the case on the basis that his separation from action is illegal. Image via Real Madrid CF Should clubs be allowed to drop players over contract disputes? It is not an uncommon practice for clubs to drop players who are not open to signing a new deal, or in some cases, accept a transfer elsewhere. On the one hand, clubs are protecting their own interests, and if a player is not going to sign a new contract, they would argue that they may as well focus their resources on other with a longer term future at the club. On the flipside, players should also have the choice and freedom to take decisions on their future, without fearing action from clubs that may have a negative impact on their career. Just as in any other profession, players should have a degree of free will to decide how to proceed in their professional capacity.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Lyon ultras call for John Textor to leave the club
In the wake of the confirmation of Olympique Lyonnais' relegation to Ligue 2, the club's main ultras group, the Bad Gones, have called on owner John Textor to leave the club. Textor's stock among the Lyon fans has taken a big hit in recent times. He had endeared himself to them through his open war with Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, however, the club's spiralling financial issues saw them turn on the American. Advertisement Their dissatisfaction was audible during Lyon's match against AS Monaco on the penultimate day of the season as they booed Textor as he walked in front of them, before deploying an unsavoury banner that made a crude play on words involving Eagle Football's floating on the stock exchange and Al-Khelaifi's testicles. However, Textor's popularity is now at rock bottom after the DNCG confirmed Les Gones' relegation to Ligue 2 following Tuesday's meeting. The club will appeal. However, for OL's largest ultras group, the Bad Gones, there is no coming back for Textor. In a letter and X post addressed to the owner, the Bad Gones said, 'The end of the season was difficult for the club but also for our relationship. We think that we struggle to understand each other, to understand where the club is going, what your vision of it is, and we think that you, like us, have created a common distrust.' Advertisement It continued: 'John has never been and never will be the man for the situation. This Botafogo supporter should now leave the Lyon landscape. We call on the numerous creditors to take back control and give the keys back to someone who will be able to respect the institution.' The Bad Gones concluded by saying 'Textor out'. On Wednesday morning, banners with that slogan have appeared across the city. GFFN | Luke Entwistle
New York Times
6 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Forget the football – this is why the Club World Cup really matters
FIFA gave its 32 competing teams a billion reasons to take a revamped Club World Cup seriously when announcing its monstrous prize pot back in March. Each and every club had appetites sharpened by the announcement of a $1billion fund in March, with the lucky winner potentially walking away with up to $125million for less than a month's work. Advertisement The short-term gains have been there for all to see — $2m just for a group game win — yet it is the intangibles, a promise of commercial growth in a largely untapped market, that also ensures no participating club is dismissive of the opportunity presenting itself in the United States. The empty seats at many stadiums, and patchy quality of the football, may have sparked some barbed comments in more established football territories, but to the clubs involved, this is a brand-building moment and a chance to either entrench positions in the market or to spark growth. The European Club Association, which has 11 of its members playing in the U.S., are among those who champion the positives that jar with the ongoing workload concerns of players' unions. 'The ECA has been supportive of this tournament from the beginning,' said the organisation's chairman, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, also president of Paris Saint-Germain — one of the competing teams — on the eve of the tournament in Miami. 'We believe that the FIFA Club World Cup will become a landmark competition and can deliver real benefits for all clubs.' Or, in other words, the chance to swell their coffers. Strip it all back and the Club World Cup in its latest iteration is another money-making exercise for its most high-profile participants. A pre-season tour gilded and rebadged; an introduction to new audiences with cheques banked along the way. FIFA has issued soundbites from players and managers talking up the chance to create history by lifting silverware, but executives will inevitably be viewing it through a different prism for now. One where balance sheets build and their brand finds ballast. 'I know first-hand that the clubs competing in the Club World Cup are hugely supportive of it. They see it as a major opportunity,' Phil Carling, head of football at the marketing agency Octagon and formerly the Football Association's commercial director, tells The Athletic. Advertisement 'It probably goes back for the last 10 years, but at the moment, the scramble to capture, retain and, ideally, monetise international fans is particularly fierce. 'Any platform, like the Club World Cup, that gives you exposure in the right prestigious environment — and even better if you win it — is your opportunity to capture those fans and use that as an equity to build wealth through your commercial programmes. 'Talent follows money, eyeballs follow talent, and money follows eyeballs. Put that together and it helps to understand the commercial model for elite sport.' The revamped Club World Cup, spanning close to a month, is that new chance for clubs to sell themselves. It might lack the prestige and rewards of UEFA's Champions League, but FIFA's summertime competition has the potential to bring layered financial hits. Merchandise can be sold and social media followers gained on the back of exploits in the U.S. 'We can take a sniffy view of this because of long-held legacy attitudes about football and what is valuable in football,' explains Tim Crow, an experienced sports marketing advisor. 'But there's a new generation of fans to be won and that's really the key battleground. It's not about whether the traditional fan is won over, it's a question of whether new fans are won over.' Commercial revenue is the income stream where clubs are most emphatically the masters of their own destiny, and in the modern era, it continues to take on huge significance. Deloitte's annual Money League report, a ranking of the richest clubs in football, found that its top 20 generated £4.2bn of commercial income in 2023-24, which amounted to 44 per cent of the collective turnover. Of the top 10 clubs, only Arsenal had commercial revenues that were eclipsed by either broadcast or matchday income. Advertisement At football's capitalist edge, the scramble is on to secure international fans with money to spend. It is why Manchester United will head to New Jersey, Chicago and Atlanta next month after a post-season trip to the Far East. Arsenal have their own preparatory plans in Singapore and Hong Kong, while Liverpool and Barcelona are both travelling to Japan, among other countries. The suspicion is that Ruben Amorim, Mikel Arteta, Arne Slot and Hansi Flick will all be glad of the rest currently being afforded to their players, but the commercial departments of those teams tasked with raising profiles and enhancing brands and with targets to meet, will quietly be lamenting not being part of the Club World Cup. 'All of the big Premier League clubs not part of this will be wishing they were,' says Carling, who previously headed up Arsenal's first commercial team in the 1990s. 'There wouldn't be a board that got a call from FIFA to step in six months ago who would turn it down. They would've hired a rowing boat to get over the Atlantic. 'The prize money is one thing, but the prestige and where it positions you as a club, as an entity within world football, is very important. I doubt the players and coaching staff will be weeping that they're not involved, but being part of this is huge for the clubs that are going.' PSG's Al-Khelaifi is not the only prominent figure pleased to be spending much of the footballing summer in the U.S. Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano said his club was 'very excited' to be one of the 32 involved. 'I think it's something that was very much needed,' he told reporters this week following their opening game against Wydad AC in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Real Madrid's Florentino Perez was even more ebullient. 'It's a beautiful competition and I'm sure it will be a huge success,' he told DAZN. 'We've come here with great enthusiasm.' Advertisement The comments have the feel of people at a party telling those stuck at home of the fun they are missing, but there is substance to the propaganda. Every elite club remains locked in a battle to grow its brand and the bigger that gets, the more revenues can be generated. Real Madrid, Europe's most successful club, are widely considered to have built the strongest brand in football and in 2023-24, that was reflected in commercial revenues of £410m. 'There are three angles on how clubs can grow their brand (through the Club World Cup),' says Hugo Hensley, head of sports services at Brand Finance. 'One is global. You're going to have global exposure. But that really matters for the big brands that actually can monetise that rate, clubs like Real Madrid. They need to have that to maintain the prestige as being the best in the world. 'There's also local exposure. It's going to be brilliant for the Middle Eastern club who can say we're on this really prestigious stage and build engagement locally. 'And then there's exposure to the U.S. You get that very valuable market that all of these brands are hoping will be monetisable either now, or as a long-term brand growth prospect.' The location of this Club World Cup, played out over 11 host cities in the U.S., has undeniably added appeal to its participants. There might be huge numbers of locals who care little for its presence this summer, but the biggest European clubs concluded long ago that it was the market with the greatest potential to tap. There are, literally, millions without footballing club loyalties. FIFA ran a quiz on their website earlier this week underlining as much, inviting users to answer a series of questions that would help determine the club they should be backing at the tournament. 'If you asked most Premier League clubs to list the top three markets they'd like FIFA to take this to, the U.S. would certainly be in there,' says Crow. 'It's a giant economy. Forty cents in every dollar spent on sports marketing around the world emanates from the U.S. It makes a lot of sense to go there and try to tap into that engine. For big European clubs, they have been steadily working away at the American market for a long time.' Carling is in agreement. 'It is a $20trillion market and the richest domestic market in the world,' he says. 'Therefore, the consumers might be smaller in number, but their economic weight is much heavier than, say, India or China, where clubs used to feel they should be targeting. 'The pivot towards the U.S. is becoming very important in a lot of clubs' strategies. There are fans in the States who haven't made up their minds on who they should follow and here's an opportunity to capture those fans. And economically significant fans. You'll have those people then potentially going out to buy merchandise, follow the team in the future and subscribe to digital channels. More importantly, they'll be interested in brands that are associated with those clubs.' Advertisement The Club World Cup remains a tournament of unknowns as the group stages reach their deciding moments in the coming days. No one, not even FIFA president Gianni Infantino, can predict where his pet project will be 10 years from now and whether it has confounded the scepticism. Will winning the final in New Jersey on July 13 really count for much beyond the windfall awaiting the victors? Only time will tell, but there is a reason that Manchester City, Real Madrid, PSG and more are all desperate to find out. This Club World Cup, for all its detractors, is a big step towards more.
New York Times
20-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Paris Saint-Germain 0 Botafogo 1 – Are Europe's struggles good for the Club World Cup?
Europe's teams lost twice in one day at the Club World Cup as Botafogo shocked Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain to take control of group B. The Copa Libertadores holders took a first-half lead when Marlon Freitas released Igor Jesus who got the better of PSG centre-backs Willian Pacho and Lucas Beraldo before getting a shot away that deflected off Pacho and past Gianluigi Donnarumma. Advertisement Early in the second half, Botafogo goalkeeper John blocked a close-range header from Goncalo Ramos and Luis Enrique sent on Joao Neves, Bradley Barcola, Nuno Mendes and Fabian Ruiz as the start of a series of substitutions to try and equalise but the John Textor-owned team from Brazil held on to beat his rival Nasser Al-Khelaifi's Qatar-backed PSG. Botafogo's win at a raucous Rose Bowl in Pasadena leaves them three points clear at the top of group B with four of the eight pools now led by teams from South America. Here The Athletic's Jack Lang, Jordan Campbell and Austin Green analyse the game's key talking points. For the first six days of the tournament it did not happen, but then two European teams lost in the space of eight hours. It is a healthy development for the competition as there were fears the gulf between Europe and the other continents would be so pronounced that the group stage was uncompetitive. Inter Miami beating Porto was the first real dent in the idea of Europe invincibility but Botafogo beating the reigning UEFA Champions League holders PSG was the sort of upset that can change the entire dynamics of a tournament. The Brazilian side defended resolutely and were able to regularly counter on the French champions. European sides have found it difficult to cope with the speed of PSG's moves but Botafogo matched them physically for most of the game. South American teams have now won five, drawn three and lost none of their games against opposition from other continents. The conditions may be more natural to some of the South American sides, who are also mid-season, but the European sides are finding that this is not the walkover they may have been expecting. Jordan Campbell Pacho and Beraldo seemed to have the situation well under control. Botafogo had nicked the ball in midfield but the PSG centre backs were well placed. There was a gap between them, but it was tiny, no more than three metres. No one was going to get through that. Then along came Igor Jesus. The Botafogo striker is not one of those subtle strikers. He doesn't paint pictures with his feet. He can look ungainly, a little imprecise. Tell him to run onto something, though, and he'll do it all day, then come back the morning after and ask for more. He saw the gap, laughed at it, barrelled into it like a wild horse. The pass came from Jefferson Savarino, as he knew it would. From there, it was just about maintaining the momentum. A second and a couple of touches later, the ball was in the net and Igor Jesus was in the crowd, being smothered in hugs. It's been a funny 12 months for the 24-year-old. Not so long ago, he was leading the line for the Brazil national team, the main individual beneficiary of Botafogo's all-conquering 2024 season. He has found the going much harder since the turn of the year. It was, in truth, a slight surprise when Nottingham Forest agreed to make a Premier League player of him in June. Advertisement Here, though, he showed his true potential. This may be his goodbye tour, but there is still a chance for him to make a few more memories in black and white yet. Jack Lang For PSG's first match of this tournament against a non-European side, Luis Enrique opted to sit several of his usual first-choice starters. Gonçalo Ramos started at centre-forward for the injured Ousmane Dembelet. Senny Mayulu and Warren Zaire-Emery flanked Vitinha in the midfield. Lucas Hernandez and Beraldo started on the back line over Mendes and Marquinhos. The results were mixed. PSG dominated possession but struggled to finish chances. They largely went away from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia after the winger created two superb opportunities for himself in the opening 15 minutes. Ramos was a non-factor and missed a chance at a tap-in goal because he failed to make a run at a Desire Doue cross into the box in the first half. Beraldo and Pacho had their moments in central defence but were also responsible for giving up Igor Jesus' goal. It didn't take long after half-time — and another superb Botafogo chance on the counter — for Luis Enrique to determine he had seen enough. In came Barcola, Ruiz, Neves and Mendes in the 55th minute. The result was a livelier, more balanced PSG attack and one that negated Botafogo's counterattacking threat. But it was too little, too late. It's not just that PSG didn't find an equalizer, they barely had a quality chance until late in the second half. Credit Botafogo for superb positioning as the Brazilian side's back line grew more comfortable as the game went on. But given those early chances and PSG's early-scoring prowess throughout their run through the Champions League, it's hard not to second-guess Enrique's decision to sit so many first-choice players and not press for an early goal to then allow for some earlier-than-usual substitutions on the back end. Austin Green Monday, June 23: Seattle Sounders, Club World Cup group stage (Seattle), 3pm ET, 8pm UK Monday, June 23: Atletico Madrid, Club World Cup group stage (Pasadena), 3pm ET, 8pm UK You can sign up to DAZN to watch every FIFA Club World Cup game free.
