Al Khelaifi named most powerful person in football
الخليفي أكثر الشخصيات تأثيراً في عالم كرة القدم
The Peninsula
PSG Chairman Nasser Al Khelaifi, the head of beIN Media Group, has been named the most powerful person in the football world. Al Khelaifi topped a list of Top 50 most powerful people, published in the latest edition of the France Football Magazine.
A report published on beIN Sport said: “They are not necessarily the people who shout loudest or make the most fuss, but more those whose decisions carry the most weight. France Football has come up with 50 names amongst the inevitable leaders of clubs and institutions, fearsome and insatiable agents, star players with huge followings, all-powerful and all-knowing coaches, businessmen whose voices are increasingly heard and politicians who are increasingly present.”
“Those who make, and sometimes defeat, football in 2020. And who impose themselves upon it by force, networks and/or power, either in the spotlight or in the shadows.
“In this little game, because that’s what it is, Nasser Al Khelaifi ranks at the top because of the unique reach of his influence. He is a club chairman (PSG), a broadcasting boss (beIN Media Group) with 55 million subscribers, as well as a minister without a portfolio of a country, Qatar, which will organize the next World Cup in 2022,” the report said. Al Khelaifi is at a crossroads of influence and power games that puts him in a privileged and indispensable position.
Having joined PSG nine years ago, Al Khelaifi, who is also the President of the Qatar Tennis Federation, has managed to adapt to the codes to become accepted and join this powerful clan who rules and holds sway over international football. It was Al Khelaifi who kicked off PSG’s transformation into a truly international brand, illustrated by two statistics: the club has gone from selling 44,000 replica shirts in 2011 to more than a million in 2019, as well as from a digital community of 500,000 to more than 87 million today.
With this honorary distinction, Al Khelaifi, reserved as always, did not labour the point in France Football and said: “Power for power’s sake – the obsessive search for the spotlight – it’s just pure vanity”. In an interview in France Football, he talked about Alex Ferguson, the former boss of Manchester United, Aleksander Ceferin, the UEFA boss and Michael Jordan, who he negotiated with for the Parisian business.
“His (Ferguson’s) knowhow and passion for football are incomparable. (Ceferin) is a much needed unifying force for European and world football,” the Qatari said. Of all the players he met, at PSG and elsewhere, the PSG boss picks out former Parisian star Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Beckham among those who impressed him the most with their ability to unify and offer another dimension. “He (Ibrahimovic) is forever dependable and also stood up when needed,” Al Khelaifi said. “(Beckham) is one of the best role models for any young boy or girl who aspires to become a professional athlete,” he said.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Gianni Infantino stand alongside Nasser Al Khelaïfi on this influential podium. Others on the list include major agents (Mendes, Raiola or Zahavi), politicians (Xi Jinping), several players (Messi, Neymar, Sterling, Salah, Mbappé or Rapinoe), coaches (Klopp, Guardiola or Zidane) but also businessmen and women from Russia, South Korea or Bahrain. And even a golden international trophy, the Ballon d’Or FF, which almost all of the club’s 50 members dream of getting close to, directly or indirectly.
source: thepeninsulaqatar
باريس – وكالات:
اختارت مجلة “فرانس فوتبول” الفرنسية، ناصر الخليفي، رئيس مجموعة beIN الإعلاميّة ناصر الخليفي، كأبرز شخصية مؤثرة في عالم كرة القدم، وفقاً لاستفتاء المجلة الذي ستصدر نتائجه كاملة غدا الثلاثاء.
وأعدت “فرانس فوتبول” تقريراً عن أقوى 50 شخصاً في عالم كرة القدم، وجاء على رأسهم الخليفي، رئيس مجلس إدارة باريس سان جيرمان.
وبحسب “فرانس فوتبول”، فإن الخليفي تفوق على النجم البرتغالي كريستيانو رونالدو، وجياني إنفانتينو رئيس الاتحاد الدولي لكرة القدم، اللذين جاءا في المركزين الثاني والثالث.
وكتبت المجلة العالمية: “إنهم ليسوا بالضرورة الأشخاص الذين يصرخون بصوت عالٍ، وإن الخليفي رجل صاحب قرارات مؤثرة منذ أن تولى رئاسة باريس سان جيرمان”.
وأضافت المجلة، أن الخليفي ضمن الذين يصنعون كرة القدم في السنوات المقبلة، ولديه سلطات وقوة يفرضها في كل التعاملات.
ورأت المجلة أن الخليفي نجح في الانضمام إلى “كتيبة الأقويّاء التي تهيمن بوزنها ونفوذها على عالم الكرة العالميّة، حيث أنه كان وراء التغيير الشامل الذي شهده “النادي الباريسي “بي اس جي” ليتحول النادي إلى ماركة عالميّة حقيقيّة.
