They tend to get what they want. On Friday evening, Qatar submitted a bid for Manchester United, a possible takeover that should actually be impossible. The rules forbid it. Criteria stand in the way. But such things are no obstacle for Qatar. Should they succeed in the bid – and the acquisition – it will not be a turning point for football, but a continuation of a trend where a bunch of states buy up power, influence and control. And for United, the road back will be terribly long. The PSG problem There is still much to do before Qatar tests the regulations. For interested investors, Friday evening was a deadline for submitting a first bid together with proof of financing. Another bid came from Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s richest man. Weeks and perhaps months of negotiations remain. The main obstacle for Qatar is not about human rights. Instead, it is sporting: The European Football Association (UEFA) does not allow two clubs with the same majority ownership to play in the Champions League. French major club Paris Saint-Germain is owned by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), part of the state-run Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). This means that as long as the owner of United is linked to QSI, the team will not be allowed to play in the Champions League. A week ago, UEFA itself warned that the increasing number of clubs with the same owner is a threat to the integrity of the European tournaments. But for Qatar, the rules are just a new opponent to be figured out. The network Bidet på United comes from Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, who presents himself as a private investor with his own fund. It is unclear where he got the £4.5bn, which is reported to be the size of the bid. In any case, the plan is clear: If Sheikh Jassim emerges as independent from QSI, which owns PSG, then UEFA will let United into the Champions League. But how independent is Jassim really from QSI? These are the facts: QSI is a smaller part of the state’s QIA. Jassim is the son of the former Prime Minister of Qatar, who used to be the head of the QIA. Jassim is the brother of Qatar’s current Emir. He is also chairman of one of the country’s largest banks, Qatar Islamic Bank. The largest shareholder in Qatar Islamic Bank (17 percent) is QIA. There is thus a network of interests and relationships that will bind the two clubs together indirectly. On Thursday, the human rights organization FairSquare wrote a letter to Aleksander Čeferin, the president of UEFA, calling for a possible purchase to be blocked. “No consortium of Qatari investors capable of making such an acquisition will be able to demonstrate, convincingly, that they are independent from the State of Qatar,” FairSquare wrote. UEFA’s savior But Qatar has power in UEFA. A key person here could be Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who became Čeferin’s savior when he went against the Super League in 2021. Al-Khelaifi wears many hats: He is president of PSG and QSI, and sits on UEFA’s executive committee. He is also the head of BeIN SPORTS, the Qatari TV network that has bought rights to the Champions League from UEFA for several regions. For the EC in 2021, one of the sponsors was Qatar Airways. For the record: Al-Khelaifi also sits on the board of QIA, i.e. the main shareholder in Jassim’s bank. Nasser Al-Khelaifi and UEFA President Ceferin. Photo: FRANCK FIFE / AFP Tariq Panja, who covers football for The New York Times, wrote on Friday that he was “almost certain” that UEFA gives a possible acquisition the green light. The Times and The Daily Mail have spoken to sources in Qatar who believe they will convince UEFA. It says a lot about football that they may actually be right. Tricky league The letter from FairSquare was also sent to Richard Masters, general manager of the Premier League. That’s because the league has to approve the acquisition, but the Premier League has been fooled before. They have a kind of moral test of new owners, and when Saudi Arabia wanted Newcastle in October 2021, it was clear that the state itself could not buy the club. But the investors said that the state’s investment fund should become the owner, and that this was independent of the state itself. This despite the fact that the chairman of the fund is Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Incredibly, the Premier League said this was fine – to a chorus of criticism. Since then, Newcastle have flown with Saudi Arabia’s state airline to training camps in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, and have been given away kits in white and green – the same colors as the Saudi Arabia national team’s home kit. Everyone understands what is going on here. Newcastle supporter outside St. James park with Saudi Arabian flag. Photo: LEE SMITH / Reuters The Premier League has not made any changes to the criteria for who can buy clubs. So why shouldn’t Sheikh Jassim believe that this can work? The dream club Should he buy United, three of England’s biggest clubs will be owned by neighbors from the Persian Gulf. Before, fans in pubs used to debate 4-4-2 and 4-3-3. Now it may become even more relevant to discuss diplomacy and politics from the Arabian Peninsula, such as the neighboring countries’ blockade of Qatar in 2017. The Emir of Qatar and Bin Salman. Photo: Untitled / AP What will an acquisition mean for United fans? In sporting terms, Qatar is a dream: An owner who can bring in stars and renovate Old Trafford. But fans who have criticized City and Newcastle for their owners will now have to live with the same moral questions. We can also expect sponsors linked to Qatar and training camps in Doha. For Qatar, United is an ideal club. The WC lasted one month; with United they will get a slot week after week. They will get the attention of several hundred million fans around the world – United themselves claim that the number is 1.1 billion. This is a privilege Qatar is unlikely to let go of. Coming to stay Because if Qatar gets United first, why sell? Several owners buy clubs to make money at a later sale. For Qatar, this is PR and political power – loss and gain are not measured in kroner. Qatar has shown no sign of selling PSG, which it has owned since 2012. The United Arab Emirates, via Sheikh Mansour, who bought Manchester City in 2008, have also not considered letting go of their club. For football, a purchase will normalize sports washing even more. The more clubs that are owned by such states, the more difficult it is to demand that the players speak about human rights, or avoid playing for the teams. For UEFA, the bid is a threat to the integrity of the Champions League. At the same time, it says something about football’s moral compass that it is a sporting conflict of interest – and not Qatar’s bloody treatment of migrant workers or the criminalization of homosexuals – that is the biggest obstacle. Sheikh Jassim will surely say that such accusations must be leveled against the state, not him. Of course. For those hoping that he will be thwarted, it is probably best to keep expectations low.
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