Nasser Al-Khelaifi

Nasser bin Ghanim Al-Khelaifi (ناصر بن غانم الخليفي; born 12 November 1973) is a Qatari businessman, sports executive, and former tennis player.

He is the chairman of beIN Media Group and Qatar Sports Investments, president of Paris Saint-Germain F.C. and the Qatar Tennis Federation, and vice president of the Asian Tennis Federation for West Asia.

Al-Khelaifi is also a member of the organizing committee for the FIFA Club World Cup, and has been elected as the chairman of the European Club Association (ECA).

As a tennis professional, Al-Khelaifi was the second most successful member of the Qatar Davis Cup team after Sultan Khalfan, playing 43 times between 1992 and 2002 and compiling a 12–31 record in singles, 12–16 in doubles.

Al-Khelaifi appeared twice on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) main tour, losing each time in his first round matches in St. Pölten in 1996 (where he lost to former French Open Champion Thomas Muster) and in Doha in 2002.

He reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 995 in late 2002.

He also won the GCC Team Tournament.

Nasser Al-Khelaifi has been president of the Qatar Tennis Federation (QTF) since November 2008.

In 2011, he was elected vice-president of the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) for West Asia.

Nasser Al-Khelaifi has been chairman of Qatar Sports Investments (QSi) from June 2011.

QSi is a sovereign wealth fund dedicated to investments in the sport and leisure industry on a national and international level.

Following the QSi acquisition of Paris Saint-Germain F.C. (PSG) in June 2011, Nasser Al-Khelaifi became the chairman of the board of PSG and also CEO of the club, reinforcing Qatari interest in French football.

QSi has several other high-profile partnerships.

QSi also owns the Burrda sportswear brand.

Nasser Al-Khelaifi became the new president and chief executive officer of Paris Saint-Germain on 7 October 2011.

Shortly after being named president, he presented a five-year plan to take Paris Saint-Germain to the top of the tree in France and abroad.

As part of the long-term plan for the club, Al-Khelaifi brought in former footballer Leonardo as the new director of football.

Although Al-Khelaifi initially demanded a major trophy haul for the 2011–12 season, PSG were soon eliminated from the UEFA Europa League and both domestic cups, leaving the team only able to spend $130 million on players.

PSG failed to dominate, and lost out to eventual winners Montpellier, though they qualified for the UEFA Champions League by finishing second.

In the 2012–13 season, PSG won the Ligue 1 title and also made it to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, partly thanks to the goalscoring of newly signed striker Zlatan Ibrahimović.

They eventually lost in a two-legged tie to FC Barcelona on away goals.

In June 2012, QSi acquired the Paris Handball Club and merged it with the PSG sport franchise to create a wider and more competitive sport offer to the city of Paris.

Since 2012, Paris Saint-Germain Handball has won the LNH Division 1 five times, while reaching the EHF Champions League final in 2016–17 and the semi-finals in 2015–16 and 2017–18.

In the 2013–14 season, PSG again finished top of Ligue 1 with a record total of 89 points.

They reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League where they lost to Chelsea 3–3 on aggregate, again going out only on the away goals rule.

On 31 December 2013, Al Jazeera Sport's global operations were spun out of Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN) and rebranded as beIN Sports.

A few months later, beIN Media Group was incorporated and became the official owner of beIN Sports branded networks as well as all other non-news and current affairs assets originally belonging to AJMN.

BeIN Sports has 22 channels, including 17 HD channels, and broadcasts across the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, North America, Australia, and Asia.

The strategy, aside from building the BeIN premium sports network, is to develop the group's ambitions in sports and entertainment in production, distribution, and digital media sectors.

According to the Swiss attorney general’s office, it was alleged that Valcke exploited his FIFA role between 2013 and 2015 to favour media partners that he preferred by providing the media rights for various World Cup and Confederations Cup tournaments.

In November 2013, Al-Khelaifi was made minister without portfolio in the Qatari government by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim.

Al-Khelaïfi was honored by ESPN as the seventh most influential individual in the realm of world football in 2015.

In October 2017, the Swiss courts opened an investigation against him for suspicion of private corruption in the allocation of television rights for the World Cups 2026 and 2030 for the Middle East and North Africa international media market.

In the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League knockout phase, they lost to Manchester United at home after leading with two goals at Old Trafford in the first leg.

PSG lost at home 1–3 (3–3 on aggregate) and were knocked out by the away-goal rule.

His influence was further solidified in May 2020 when a France Football ranking positioned him as the most influential personality in the sport.

Al-Khelaifi was born in Qatar, a son of a pearl fisherman, and graduated with an Economics Degree from Qatar University.

On 30 October 2020, Nasser Al-Khelaifi was cleared of the case over the awarding of television rights for the World Cup.

Al-Khelaifi had been accused of aggravated criminal mismanagement for his alleged part in a corruption trial involving former FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke.

However, Valcke was found guilty of forging documents related to television rights for the World Cup and was fined 24,000 Swiss francs ($26,500).