Paris (France) (AFP) – Nasser al-Khelaifi, the Qatari president of French football club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), is under investigation in France on suspicion of an illegal conflict of interest, prosecutors in Paris said on Sunday. The preliminary probe is linked to his twin stewardship of the Champions League title holders and the beIN Media Group and involves a meeting on broadcasting rights with the French football league’s representatives in July 2024, the prosecutor’s office said, confirming a report in L’Equipe sports newspaper.
The meeting was held the day after beIN Sports made a 100-million-euro ($115-million) offer for rights to broadcast one Ligue 1 match per week. France’s professional football league later accepted the beIN offer. The latest investigation into al-Khelaifi was launched in April after a tip-off from the anti-graft Anticor association, with proceedings entrusted to the anti-corruption and finance police.
According to a source close to the case, Anticor alleges that al-Khelaifi took part in discussions on the validation of beIN Sports’ bid despite also serving as chairman of beIN Media Group, creating a conflict of interest. Anticor also alleges that al-Khelaifi exerted pressure on other Ligue 1 club presidents to support the beIN Sports proposal, the source said.
Al-Khelaifi’s lawyer, Renaud Semerdjian, rejected the claims. “The allegations made against Mr. Nasser al-Khelaifi are without basis, neither legally nor factually,” he told AFP. The lawyer said his client had “always acted in an independent, impartial and objective manner.”
The PSG chief, who has led the French Ligue 1 champions since its 2011 takeover by Qatar Sports Investments with the dream of making the team Europe’s best, has faced several legal cases in recent years. In February 2025, he was charged with complicity in abuse of power concerning shareholder voting at a company. Previous charges against al-Khelaifi for alleged corruption over Qatar’s bids for the 2017 and 2019 World Athletics Championships were definitively annulled in mid-February 2023 by France’s Court of Cassation, which ruled the French justice system did not have the right to prosecute him.
© 2024 AFP
