Nasser Al-Khelaifi

On 31 December 2013, Al Jazeera Sport global operations were spun off from Al Jazeera Media Network and rebranded as beIN Sports. In parallel, BeIN Media Group was incorporated and became the official owner of beIN Sports. Nasser Al-Khelaïfi was then appointed chairman and chief executive officer of beIN Media Group.[1] beIN Sports has 22 channels including 17 HD channels and broadcasts across the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, North America, Australia and Asia. The strategy, aside from building the beIN premium sports network, is to develop the group's ambitions in sports and entertainment in production, distribution and digital media sectors.

Nasser Al-Khelaifi has been chairman of Qatar Sports Investments (QSi) since June 2011. QSi is a fund dedicated to investments in the sport and leisure industry on a national and international level.[2]

Following the QSi acquisition of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) Football Club in June 2011,[8] Nasser Al-Khelaifi became the chairman of the board of PSG and also CEO of the club,[9] reinforcing Qatari interest in French football.

QSi has several other high profile partnerships. They also used to sponsor Spanish football club Barcelona. QSi also owns the Burrda sportswear brand.[10]

Paris Saint-Germain

Nasser Al-Khelaifi became the new president and chief executive officer of Paris Saint-Germain in 7 October 2011.[11] Shortly after being named president he presented a five-year plan to take Paris Saint-German to the top of the tree in France and abroad.[12] As part of the long term plan for the club, Al-Khelaïfi brought in former footballer Leonardo as the new director of football.[13]

Although Al-Khelaifi had initially demanded a major trophy haul for the 2011–12 season, PSG were soon eliminated from the UEFA Europa League and both domestic cups, leaving the team only able to compete $130 million on players, PSG failed to dominate, and lost out to eventual winners Montpellier, though they did qualify for the UEFA Champions League by finishing second.[14]

Zlatan Ibrahimović unveiled by Paris Saint-Germain sporting director Leonardo (right) and President Nasser Al-Khelaifi (left)

In the 2012–13 season, PSG won the Ligue 1 title and also made it to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, thanks partly to the goalscoring of newly signed striker, Zlatan Ibrahimović. They eventually lost in a two-legged tie to Barcelona on away goals.

In the 2013–14 season PSG again finished top of Ligue 1 with a record total of 89 points.[15] They reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League where they lost to Chelsea 3–3 on aggregate, again going out only on the away goals rule.

Nasser Al-Khelaifi (left) with Neymar Jr. in august 2017 in Parc des princes

Again they reached the 2018–19 UEFA champions league knock phase where they lost to Manchester United at home after leading with 2 goals at Old Trafford on the first leg. PSG lost at home 1–3 (3–3 on aggregate) and were knocked out by the away goal rule.

In June 2012, QSi acquired the Paris Handball Club and merged it with the PSG sport franchise to create a wider and more competitive sport offer to the city of Paris.[16] Since 2012, Paris Saint-Germain Handball has won the LNH Division 1 five times, while reaching the EHF Champions League final in 2016–17 and the semi-finals in 2015–16 and 2017–18.

Al-Khelaïfi and Karim Alami spectating the 2012 Qatar Open

As a tennis professional, Al-Khelaïfi was the second most successful member of the Qatar Davis Cup team after Sultan Khalfan, playing 43 ties between 1992 and 2002 and compiling a 12–31 record in singles, 12–16 in doubles. Al-Khelaïfi appeared twice on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) main tour, losing each time in his first round matches in St. Pölten in 1996 (where he lost to former French Open Champion Thomas Muster) and in Doha in 2001. He reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 995 in late 2002.[17][18] He also won the GCC Team Tournament.

Nasser Al-Khelaïfi has been president of the Qatar Tennis Federation since November 2008. In 2011, he was elected vice-president of the Asian Tennis Federation for West Asia.[19]

In October 2017, the Swiss courts opened an investigation against him for suspicion of private corruption in the allocation of television rights for the World Cups 2026 and 2030 for the North Africa and Middle East zone. In March 2019, he is placed under the status of witness assisted by the French courts.

On 23 May 2019, he was indicted for active bribery in an investigation into the 2017 and 2019 Doha nominations for the World Championships in Athletics. "These facts do not concern him", pleads his lawyer who believes that Nasser Al-Khelaïfi is innocent.

In February 2020, Swiss prosecutors dropped the charge of bribery but indicted Al-Khelaifi for inciting Jérôme Valcke “to commit aggravated criminal mismanagement."[20]

On 27 March 2020, the Swiss Federal Court rejected the prosecution’s indictment against Al-Khelaifi for inciting Jérôme Valcke to commit criminal mismanagement, stating that "These conditions of mismanagement are absent from the OAG's [Swiss prosecution's] accusation".[21]

In November 2013, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi was made Minister without Portfolio in the Qatari government by the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim.[22]

Al-Khelaïfi was born in Qatar, a son of a pearl fisherman,[23] and graduated from Qatar University. He also has a post graduated degree from University of Piraeus. He is close to the Emir, Sheikh Tamim, head of sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority. He is married with four children who reside in Qatar.[24] In February 2012, he won a French 'Sport Business' award, receiving the most votes out of 1,500 and finishing ahead of nine people.[25]

His growing influence in the sport was recognised in 2015 when he was crowned 'favourite Ligue 1 president in a poll conducted by France Football, with 35% of the votes cast. In 2016, the French daily sport newspaper L'Équipe named him the 'most powerful man in French football' in a 30-man list, ahead of such notable individuals as Didier Deschamps and Zinedine Zidane.[26]

In March 2020, Al-Khelaïfi was praised by World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus after offering help in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.[27]