Paris Saint-Germain have been on a massive spending spree since being bought by Qatar Sports Investments (QIA) in May 2011.
Since buying PSG, QIA have spent over €200m (£157m) in signing some of Europe’s best players like Javier Pastore, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. And they are rumored to be lining up a €100m bid next summer for Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
With Uefa’s Financial Fair Play regulations on the horizon, many observers have been wondering how PSG would be able to meet FPP? The answer is massive “sponsorship” deal with the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA).
The Qatar Tourism Authority have agreed to pay PSG €150 million A YEAR for the next four seasons. Yes that is right. A Qatar government agency will pay a Qatar owned team an unprecedented €600 million over four years. With one fell swoop, PSG is immediately in compliance of Uefa’s Financial Fair Play regulations.
There has been a lot of talk with FPP that Uefa would look at sponsorship deals to make sure that they are not overinflated deals. So interestingly, the QTA agreement is a “vast publicity campaign intended to promote the image of Qatar”, and not a sponsorship deal. Which I believe means that Uefa’s cannot complain about it.
Before this influx of cash, which has been backdated to take effect for the beginning of this season, a France Football article had claimed that nothing short of victory in the Champions League final this season would ensure that PSG met Uefa’s FFP regulations.
Now with one fell swoop PSG have thumbed their nose at Uefa’s FFP regulations and shown how toothless they are.
