Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi today called for rules to prevent football clubs from taking on too much debt, because debt “is a danger”.
The ECA president also spoke out against the European Super League and made a veiled criticism of Barcelona for their large debt, said with no hint of irony despite the abundance of artificial injections of funds PSG receive from Qatari government to keep them afloat.
It would be necessary to “create rules that protect European football clubs” from getting into high levels of debt, insisted the Qatari during his participation in virtual mode in Football Talks, conferences organised at the headquarters of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) in Oeiras (Lisbon).
He recalled that, “during the pandemic, football survived because of the investment that was made” and that, “in the opposite case, it would not have managed to overcome the situation as it did”.
However, he pointed out that “many clubs lost a lot”, which led to them being “deeply in debt”, and noted that there are teams that have 1.8 billion euros in debt – without naming names – and “this is a danger” for the sport, he warned.
He also pointed out that if football does not attract investment it will go to other sports. Even so, he predicted a “bright” future for football and called for thinking “outside the box”, being “more creative” and generating more interest among the population.
He argued that “the ecosystem of football is much bigger than just two or three clubs” and that “it is very important that people can see that there are no elites”.
The Qatari reinforced his rejection of the European Super League and defended the new Champions League formula, which, in his view, “is a success”.
