What was he thinking as he lifted the Champions League trophy? About the spectacular failures and long years of disappointment for his Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in the competition? On the pitch at Munich’s Allianz Arena on Saturday, May 31, Nasser Al-Khelaifi โ known as “NAK” โ finally saw his club win Europe’s most prestigious football trophy after their victory over Inter Milan (5-0). This was the ultimate goal set when Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) acquired the club in 2011. According to him, however, the PSG boss had put aside any obsession with that title. At least, that’s what he had been repeating over the past year. Gone were the bold pronouncements of his early days, when he gave the club “five years” to claim the top prize. “He eventually learned from his mistakes,” said a former close associate.
This triumph has further cemented the status of the Qatari businessman, who at 51 has become the most influential football executive in Europe. Shuttling between flights, Al-Khelaifi juggled languages, roles and conflicts of interest: president of PSG; head of beIN Media Group; member of the executive committee of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2019; president of the European Club Association (ECA); board member of the Ligue de football professionnel (LFP, France’s professional football league); board of directors member at the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund); head of QSI; and president of the Qatar Tennis Federation, and also of the film studio Miramax.
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