Al-Khelaïfi: “People are dying in Ukraine, and we are fighting for the Super League?”

Nasser Al Khelaïfi, president of Paris Saint-Germain, has been interviewed exclusively for BBC Sport in Vienna. In the interview he has talked about all the burning issues of current sports and even the war between Ukraine and Russia. One of the threads of the talk has been his relationship with Florentino Pérezhis counterpart at Real Madrid and main promoter of the Superligaon which he has also spoken.

-Superliga: “With ESL or without ESL, I hate to say Superliga, you are talking about three clubs (Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus). They know there are no chances. People are dying in Ukraine and they have nowhere to sleep, and we are fighting for the Super League? The problem with ESL clubs is that they don’t have stability. They don’t have a long-term financial vision. They keep talking about their legal contract. What they forget is that football is a social contract, not a legal contract, They are waving a sheet of paper.

-Relationship with Florentino Pérez: “He spoke to me in the Champions League game and said: ‘We have to get to a point where we can talk to you.’ I was very tough on him. I said I was happy to talk, but if he was going to do things behind my back, I am not interested”.

-Matches against the greats: “I want to play those games, the big games, of course I do. I know what the public wants. But we can’t say: ‘You’re a small club, you’re out’. It has to be an open system, under the governing body, where there is respect for all”.

-Invitation to the Super League: “I could have taken the check [ESL] for 400 million euros. They invited me. Then when I said no, they said they didn’t invite me, that sums them up. If I had thought of myself, I could have done it. Especially during COVID. But what about the ecosystem, the fans and the values ​​that you represent?

-PSG investment fund: “Imagine if there had been no investment in recent years. Football would have collapsed, I promise you. We are an investment fund. We bought the club for 70 million euros. Since then we have received multi-million dollar offers. This is the brand we built as a real investment, in men’s and women’s teams. People criticize because it is sovereign wealth. What about other forms of ownership? Is the acquisition of sport by private capital a social good? What about clubs promoted to heaven by private individuals? Is that a good thing? Barcelona is a member-owned club with €1.5 billion in debt. Does it work? Our investment in PSG doesn’t just help one club. Imagine if PSG weren’t in the French league. Where would the league find an investment fund to invest €1.5bn? Who goes to small clubs to invest? When you look at the big picture of what we’re doing, it’s raised the bar.”

-New rules of the fairplay financial: “This process started long before I became president of the ECA. Second, the ECA is about collective leadership: our ExCo, our vice presidents, our executive board, many decision-making bodies, all transparent, all involving clubs of all sizes. Do you think that even though I’m president of the ECA, one club can do something that the other 246 clubs and all other stakeholders don’t want? It’s crazy, but at people like to think I have a master plan, it fits the established narrative. As club president, if you told me there is a salary cap, I would be the first to sign.”