Since PSG passed into the hands of a Qatari state fund in 2011, the celebration of the Qatar World Cup in 2022 has been marked on the calendar. The titles achieved in these years by the French club (eight leagues and six Cups, among others ) have served to place the Parisians in the elite of European football at the stroke of a checkbook, thanks to flashy signings, but all this record and glossy names have been at the service of a greater objective: reaching the World Cup, the first in an Arab country, with PSG as a benchmark, as a successful club since the arrival of the Qatari managers that also has the best players in the world. The plan could not have gone better.
Argentina or France will be the next world champions, but PSG will surely win in the background. In the photo with the trophy will be Leo Messi or Kylian Mbappé, the two top stars of the Parc des Princes team, the two players who have been ambassadors and the visible face of the Parisian entity in recent times, Bondy's since his signing in 2017 and the Argentine since the summer of 2021.
In the 2018 World Cup in Russia, PSG was already able to boast of the triumph of Mbappé, whose renewal last summer became a matter of States, both for France and Qatar. The striker's departure for Real Madrid would have meant a sporting stick and, above all, an irreplaceable loss for the image of the country of the Persian Gulf. Qatari pride would have been damaged when there were only a few months to go before its great event, a World Cup that since its designation in 2010 has been embroiled in controversy over the deaths of thousands of workers in stadium construction and for systematically infringing the rights humans.
"Of course I'm going with France in the final, my club is French, my second country is France, but I also have a player in Argentina, Messi, and this is the last World Cup for him. Kylian is the only PSG player who has played two finals in a row. That's wonderful," the Qatari president of PSG, Nasser Al Khelaifi, the visible face of Qatar in Paris and the trusted man of the royal family headed by Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, recently explained to RMC.
Since the arrival of Arab money, PSG has gone from being an aimless team, ten years away from the big titles, to a continental power. Ibrahimovic and Cavani were the first draft incorporations for the new project. Years later they broke the bank with the hiring of Mbappé (180 million) and Neymar (222 million). The Brazilian, still in the team but without the halo with which he landed in 2017, was the one chosen to raise PSG's presence in the world, but that role has been diluted between injuries and internal controversies.
The definitive leap, the icing on the cake for both sport and propaganda for Qatar, came with the signing, almost inadvertently, of Messi, free to sign after his abrupt departure from Barça. In the Argentine's first year, a million more PSG shirts were sold worldwide and the name 'the flea' was stamped on 60% of the elastics.
The captain of the albiceleste, in the twilight of his career but still great with the ball at his feet when he sets his mind to it, is the player who has generated the most admiration among football fans in recent years and Mbappé aims to be the new benchmark of the beautiful sport in the following decade. The presence of both in a World Cup final, the most followed match in the world, represents support of incalculable proportions for PSG and consequently for Qatar, a country that has spent decades betting on sport to clean up its international image.
"Sport should unite people. Sometimes countries that don't speak politically talk to each other over sport. I was able to see the Emir of Qatar. Also, you have to recognize that Qatar is organizing this competition particularly well. Security is good. French President Emmanuel Macron praised Qatar for his part, who saw the Les Bleus semi-final against Morocco in the emirate and will be at the Lusail stadium for the final.
It is estimated that Qatar has assets worth 26,000 million dollars in France, the second country in Europe after the United Kingdom with the largest presence of the millions of Qataris, whose origin stems from its large oil reserves. In addition, since the Ukrainian War, the emirate has gained relevance in the supply of natural gas to the old continent. While the Qatari rulers are winning a portion of the European business sector check by check, Messi and Mbappé will be in charge today, as PSG ambassadors, of winning the hearts of the fans. The dream final for Qatar.
