Qatar’s Paris Saint-Germain ranked among the ‘World’s Most Valuable Soccer Teams’ for the year 2021.
Qatari owned football team PSG has managed to overcome hurdles that stood in the way of sports tournaments due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, claiming the ninth place among the top 10 most valuable squads in the world.
The past year has seen annual and seasonal tournaments get cancelled, venues emptied of fans, and global teams at high risk of elimination due to Covid-19 threats.
However, the unforeseen events and the pandemic itself, have done little to harm the owners of the leading sports franchises.
“The Premier League leads the soccer world with a domestic media rights deal worth $2.18 billion annually and is the best-represented soccer league on the ranking, with five teams,” Forbes said in its report.
France-based Paris Saint-Germain is worth $2.5 billion dollars and owned by Qatar Sports Investments, which is chaired by Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
Read also: PSG president Al-Khelaifi replaces Juventus’ Agnelli as ECA chairman
In 2020, the team reached a revenue of $599 million, while its operating income was -$4.5 million. According to Forbes analysis, PSG’s debt value is 0%.
Among Forbes’ Top 50 sports teams on this year’s list, nine were football squads while 41 others came from basketball and baseball.
“Three soccer clubs rank among the six teams that have more than doubled in value the past five years: Paris Saint-Germain (207%), Liverpool (165%) and Manchester City (108%). The other three—the Los Angeles Rams (176%), the Golden State Warriors (147%) and the Las Vegas Raiders (117%)—owe that appreciation to new stadiums.
“The biggest one-year change in value among the US franchises—Forbes did not value soccer clubs in 2020—was shared by the New York Jets, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Seattle Seahawks, all of who rose 11% from last year’s ranking,” Forbes reported.
Last month, PSG’s owner and CEO Nasser Al Khelaifi was appointed as the new Chairman of the European Club Association [ECA] amid rising controversy over the now scrapped European Super League.
Just hours prior to the announcement, Al-Khelaifi was re-elected to the UEFA Executive Committee as its European Club Association (ECA) representative until 2024.
It came as the prominent Qatari sports figure was praised across the sporting world for his firm decision not to join the 12 clubs in the controversial “Super League” project.
Sources told the Guardian that Al Khelaifi was “pushed and pushed and pushed” to join the Super League as a founder member but strictly refused – a decision that saved him and his club from harsh consequences and bad press.
Commenting on the situation, Al-Khelaifi said PSG believes that football is for everyone.
“As a football club, we are a family and a community; whose fabric is our fans – I believe we shouldn’t forget this,” he said in a statement.
