Bloomberg News reported inQatar Sports Investments, a separate entity to QIA, already owns French super-club Paris Saint-Germain FC. Regulations from European football’s governing body, UEFA, state that teams with the same majority owner can’t both compete in the region’s major tournaments, including the showpiece Champions League. QSI chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi is also aIt is not unprecedented for an owner to field two clubs in the same European competition.
Deliberations are ongoing and no final decisions have been taken about which Qatari entities will ultimately provide capital for the Manchester United bid, the people said. A spokesperson for QIA declined to comment, while a representative for QSI wasn’t immediately available for comment. Adam Sommerfeld, a sport investment specialist at Certus Capital, has estimated that any offer for Manchester United would need to exceed £4 billion to be successful. That would make it one of the largest ever deals involving a sporting franchise.
Qatar spent more than $200 billion during the past decade redeveloping the country’s infrastructure to host the FIFA World Cup. Alongside building new stadiums and entire municipalities, it also bought sports assets. As well as the takeover of PSG, QSI has a stake Portuguese football club SC Braga.