Ligue 1 Paris St. Germain has become a top European football club, "thanks to the never ending support from Qatar," according to Christophe Palierse of LESECHOS.fr. Reports of a new deal worth as much as €400M ($518.1M) over four years with the Qatar National Bank, already a sponsor of the club, would be a record. ManU recently signed a $559M seven-year deal with General Motors that will be worth close to $80M annually. PSG's new deal could be worth as much as €100 ($130M) annually (LESECHOS.fr, 9/20). SPORTUNE.fr's Marc Limacher opined that rumors of a possible deal do not mean anything will get done. One year ago, the same Qatar National Bank was reportedly close to a 10-year €500M ($647.6M) deal with F1 team Williams, "but the contract never saw the light of day." Such rumors "are simply information given to increase the value of a project for another possible prospect" (SPORTUNE.fr, 9/20). SOCCERNET.com's Fabien Perrin reported that PSG did not comment on reports, "but the deal could be a way of countering UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules." PSG Chair Nasser el-Khelaifi recently said, "We'll follow the rules. Mr. Platini [UEFA's president] said we'll need to be creative. We have a few ideas" (SOCCERNET.com, 9/20).
SPONSORSHIP WAR: The AFP reported that despite reports of a new sponsor for PSG, Fly Emirates said that "they were close to agreeing a renewal of their shirt sponsorship deal with the club." Fly Emirates Senior VP Boutros Boutros said, "We will not comment on press stories. All I can say is that we have an excellent relationship with the club and with the owner of the club, Nasser Al Khelaifi, and that we are at the final stage of renewing our shirt sponsorship of the club for another five years" (AFP, 9/20). L'EQUIPE wrote that between a four-year proposal worth €100M annually and the €3.5M ($4.5M) per year PSG receives from Fly Emirates, "there is little doubt on who to choose." Perhaps the comments were made to "create confusion." It is difficult to figure out what exactly is going on "especially with the club owner refusing to comment on any deals that have not been finalized" (L'EQUIPE.fr, 9/20).
