PSG owners have moved from French domination and push for European success to buying a stake in Portuguese football club, Sporting Braga.
Qatar Sports Investments, the state-backed organization that acquired PSG in 2011, has provided enormous financial support to the French club with little or no success outside France.
Since Qatar Sports Investment entity bought PSG 12 years ago, the club has been subjected to a series of criticism.
However, their recent purchase of another Champions League club, Braga, has not received any form of criticism so far.
Futballnews understands that the QSI purchased a 21.67% stake in Braga – the three-time Portuguese Cup winners.
PSG Owners bought the stake in the club-side that is currently competing with Real Madrid and Napoli for a place in the last 16 this season.
The stake bought by PSG owners increased to 29.6% after they added stakes from minority stakeholders in the Primera Liga side.
The QSI’s investment at the French Ligue 1 leaders experienced issues after star players Lionel Messi and Neymar left the club in last summer transfer window.
However, following the start of the new season, new boss Luis Enrique has also endured a slow start to the league so far.
With the French Side’s long-soughted Champions League dream still far from their reach, they are looking to try with another team.
While some may feel like PSG owners want to try another shot to European dominance, Portuguese football experts don’t buy the thought.
Aaron Barton, who created Portuguese football website Proxima Jornada, spoke to BBC in an interview about PSG owners and their plan.
Speaking in the interview, Barton said: “[Braga owner] Antonio Salvador said [QSI] are helping in aspects other than financial.”
“Marketing, connections, trying to cast a wider net for scouting. Nasser Al-Khelaifi was at the inauguration of the sports complex Braga have opened, their new state of the art training facilities. That is the direction Braga are aiming for.”
“They are not [fully] funded by QSI. As far as Braga are concerned, they have made their money through player sales – and until now have not put much back into the club.”
“They are proud of the QSI relationship – PSG President Al-Khalifi is in pictures on their website. But mostly they are keeping their cards close to their chest.”
Braga, the Portuguese club’s stake bought by PSG owners, are under the ownership of local businessman Salvador since 2003.
The Club have consistently been Portugal’s fourth best team behind the big shots Benfica, Porto and Sporting.
This recent development is a massive achievement because of the long-established power structure of the Primera Liga.
PSG Owners – Qatar Sports Investment
Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) is a closed shareholding organization located in Doha, Qatar, that was created in 2005.
The profits from QSi’s operations are put back into the sports, leisure, and entertainment industries in Qatar.
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the chairman, and Adel Mohammed Tayyeb Mustafawi, the vice chairman, oversee QSi. Three other people make up the board of directors.
QSi “is thought to be owned by the Qatar Olympic Committee and the [Qatar] Finance Ministry,” claims Una Galani.
The state-run sovereign wealth fund in Qatar, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), is the parent company of QSi – PSG owners.
S.C. Braga
Portuguese sports club Sporting Clube de Braga is based in the city of Braga. It is also referred to as Sporting de Braga or simply Braga.
It is most renowned for the professional football team that plays at the Estádio Municipal de Braga in the Primeira Liga, the first division of Portuguese football.
Braga, which was founded on January 19, 1921, is also known as Os Arsenalistas, or The Arsenalists, due to the color of their shirts, which is a nod to the English football team Arsenal.
