PSG advertising deal with Qatar justified: al-Khelaifi

Reuters/Paris

A controversial advertising deal designed to help Qatari-backed Paris St Germain meet UEFA’s financial fair-play criteria is justified by the club’s growing influence in the Arabic world, the French club’s president Nasser al-Khelaifi said.

The deal, under which the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) will pour up to 200 million euros ($262 million) a year into the club until 2016, will be made official in the next few weeks, Khelaifi told the sports daily L’Equipe.

The deal is worth twice the club’s revenues for the 2010-11 season and has been questioned with some pundits suggesting it was out of proportion.  

PSG will have to comply with the new fair play regulations which require clubs not to spend more than they earn. They are expected to submit the contract to the European governing body UEFA in the coming months.

“The contract with QTA is justified because PSG’s influence in the whole region, not only in Qatar, has been important,” al-Khelaifi said in his first public comments on the issue.

“We have been building an international brand. This deal is a strong symbol. Qatar have benefited a lot from their investments in PSG.” PSG have spent more than 250 million euros in transfers since the Qatari fund QSI bought the club in June 2011, far more that they can afford to if they only spend what they earn.

The advertising contract will help them continue their expansion and will be retroactive, meaning it will finance their off-season high-profile signings, such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva or new recruit Lucas Moura. “We will keep on investing,” Khelaifi said.  “It’s necessary to become one of the great European clubs. Other clubs have invested for 20 years. We have been there for a year and a half and now we must stop pouring money? It would be unfair.”

Milan walkout re-ignites racism row in Italy

Rome: Racist chanting that led AC Milan players to walk off the pitch during a friendly match provoked howls of outrage in Italy on Friday, while club owner Silvio Berlusconi vowed his team would abandon all matches where they suffer similar abuse.

“I guarantee that in all matches, including international ones, where incidents of this type occur Milan will leave the field,” the former Prime Minister said.

Milan’s Ghanaian striker Kevin-Prince Boateng kicked the ball into the stands, removed his shirt and led his team mates off the pitch 26 minutes into the match on Thursday after monkey chants and jeers from fans of lower division team Pro Patria directed at him, Urby Emanuelson and Sulley Muntari.

The incident revived debate in Italy about whether authorities are doing enough to combat a deep-seated problem.

The mayor of Busto Arsizio, the northern hometown of Pro Patria where the incident occurred, said his administration would sue the fans responsible for the chanting. Local police say they are questioning fans to identify the culprits.  “We have begun a civil claim against the imbecile thugs that have stained the city,” mayor Gigi Farioli told Sky Italia television. “Tomorrow an education drive will be launched, with concrete measures against racism in and out of the stadium,” he said, adding that AC Milan and the players involved had been invited to participate. But he said Boateng was “unprofessional” to kick the ball at chanting fans. Boateng’s action was widely applauded, however, and prompted renewed criticism of authorities for not taking stronger action to wipe out the racist insults that are commonplace at Italian grounds.

“Finally, thanks to Boateng, there has been an adequate response to the demented people that chant racist choruses in the stadiums,” wrote Pierluigi Battista in an editorial in the respected Corriere della Sera daily. He called for games to be suspended and points deducted from the team of the offending fans even in Serie A matches as soon as there was racist chanting. Berlusconi, who is currently running for election, said he admired the team’s response to “a disgraceful episode of racism”, and said he had telephoned Boateng to congratulate him.