Champions League: How Qatar turned PSG into a global brand

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Neymar and Kylian Mbappé: The superstars at PSG - also off the pitch

Photo: MARTIN BUREAU / AFP

Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are not popular among football romantics.

The two competitors in the semi-finals of the Champions League (9 p.m. in the evening, live ticker SPIEGEL.de) stand for investors who see football as just one business, for political power struggles among rival states, Qatar on the one hand, Abu Dhabi on the other.

It's about influence, the sport is just the stage.

Qatar has been investing millions in the Paris club for almost ten years, trying to improve its reputation with it.

And while there are good reasons not to endorse the PSG project, the club has become popular, especially among young people who wear PSG shirts in their free time.

How did the club manage to appeal to this generation?

Before answering this question, you have to ask another question: Why was PSG once chosen by Qatar as an advertising vehicle for the controversial World Cup in 2022, as an ambassador for tourism, which is supposed to make Qatar less dependent on oil?

PSG were French champions for the last time before Qatar started in 1994, and the club was only mediocre in terms of sport in France. And internationally not even that.

Came for 222 million euros from the role model club FC Barcelona: Nasser Al-Khelaifi with Neymar in 2018

Photo: PHILIPPE LOPEZ / AFP

The Prinzenpark is located on the Bois de Boulogne, the forest park is on the one hand a paradise for walkers and cyclists, but also a place for drug deals and illegal prostitution.

Actually, it doesn't fit in with Qatar, where in Doha the lawn on the beach promenade at the marathon of the 2019 IAAF World Championships was so well cared for that hardly anyone dared to sit down there.

Not to mention the ban on alcohol in public.

But PSG came from the perfect city to turn the club into a trendy product.

In addition, the stadium experience at PSG is one that is particularly popular with young people: Hip-hop echoes through the arena, pyrotechnics are ignited.

Before the 2-1 defeat in the semi-final first leg against City, their own team was greeted with smoke bombs.

Qatar has used this potential for its marketing.

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With Pyro, the PSG stars will be received before the semi-finals against Manchester City

Photo: THOMAS SAMSON / AFP

Nicolas Chanavat is Marketing Professor at the Université de Rouen, and in 2017 the French wrote a thesis on Qatar's strategic goals at PSG.

He writes that when they entered the market, investors were interested in Paris, the city of love and light that attracts millions of tourists, a city with symbols: Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Versailles.

"PSG's greatest asset is Paris," says Chanavat.

PSG should become a symbol of Qatar itself.

Fortunately, Paris had hardly been represented on the international football map for some time.

Such a constellation is called “low hanging fruits” in business.

Gradually, the PSG brand was completely restructured.

She was charged with what Paris stands for: glamor.

At the very beginning, the marketing team was enlarged, from 35 to 70 employees.

The logo was changed, David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimović were signed.

"These players have given PSG an unprecedented media presence," writes Chanavat.

"You contributed to the global marketing of the club." At some point, Leonardo di Caprio also sat in the stands in the Prinzenpark.

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Beckham and Ibrahimović in 2013: PSG have never had such players

Photo: Guillaume Horcajuelo / dpa

But in order to be able to keep up at the highest level, players had to improve the PSG in terms of sport. This realization matured in spring 2017: PSG had defeated FC Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of the first leg of the premier class, but the Parisians lost 6-1 in the second leg. The club was eliminated from the competition in a way that has never been seen before in European history.

That night marked a turning point in Qatar's PSG strategy: the investors around club boss Nasser Al-Khelaifi decided to become a club like Barcelona even faster - "more than a club".

Bigger, more visible, more successful, a global brand.

A few months later, they announced the record signing of Barcelona's Neymar, who came for € 222m.

Shortly afterwards, Paris signed Kylian Mbappé for 180 million euros.

It was these two players that took PSG to the next level.

This also applies to the development off the pitch.

Today also a club for hipsters

A year after Neymar's arrival, PSG and Nike's Jordan Brand started working together.

The Jordan brand is popular with young people; whoever wears it is considered hip almost everywhere in the world.

She was previously known for working with basketball clubs, of course, because of Michael Jordan, the Jordan Brand is also represented in French basketball.

Now, in 2018, a partner from football was added for the first time with PSG, the club should collect 200 million euros from the outfitter in three years.

PSG doesn't just make money with the deal.

It is also visible to a whole new audience.

Rappers suddenly also wore PSG shirts at their concerts, in this scene the Jordan collections are particularly popular - and the fans of the rappers wore them too.

This gives PSG a whole new stage.

"There is a real hype surrounding Jordan," a buyer from a large German mail order company told SPIEGEL. He is familiar with sales figures: "This means that the PSG range is also in great demand." It remains unclear whether the buyers are really interested in the football club or more in the Jordan brand. The mail order companies did not want to publish sales figures for PSG shirts upon request.

In times of the corona crisis, it is not easy for football clubs to win new fans.

The stadium experience that so many fans once thrilled in their childhood days is missing.

The social networks have apparently become all the more important.

In a study by the ECA on the “fans of the future” it is said that nowadays it is mainly young fans who are entertained by football clips in apps and social media.

Brief summaries and highlights are required.

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Xavi Simons: A superstar in the social networks for a long time

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CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock

The actions of Neymar or Mbappé, their step-overs, their tricks and fints, are the best video material, they serve this demand for quick, short entertainment.

But PSG has also thought of the youth elsewhere.

In the summer of 2019, the club signed the next player from FC Barcelona.

This time someone who has not yet played a game for the professionals, but is considered a possible star of tomorrow: Xavi Simons.

Simons is now 18 years old, but he has been considered a great talent for years.

3.3 million people follow him on Instagram, although the young Dutchman with the lion's mane has only completed 13 minutes in the men's area.

According to the study by the ECA, many people from Asia in particular only become fans of a club because their favorite player is playing for the club.

If he changes clubs, they may move on too.

Neymar and Mbappé, but also the young Simons, are players who bind fans to the club.

These supporters may not come to the stadium, but they do spend money on the club, buy shirts.

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"Rêvons plus grand" is written on the stadium roof: Let's dream bigger

Photo: ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT / AFP

Outwardly, the PSG brand should appear elegant, writes marketing professor Chanavat, and stand for a dream world.

»Rêvons plus grand« has meanwhile become a slogan that you see around PSG.

Let's dream bigger.

With the combination of glamor and coolness, the club has won many fans worldwide.

And not just football fans, but people from all walks of life: those who are interested in lifestyle, music, handball, women's football or e-sports, sports that Qatar also supports in Paris with millions.

"In order to reach millennials, you have to be innovative," Chanavat told SPIEGEL.

But has Qatar also gained acceptance thanks to PSG?

The World Cup mood is bad, PSG is booming

Almost 16 months before the start of the World Cup, the mood around the autumn World Cup in the Gulf region seems worse than ever.

In a SPIEGEL survey at the end of March, 83 percent of those questioned in Germany were against the tournament in the emirate (more than 60 percent were in favor of a boycott).

In Norway there is now a specific boycott movement that is supported by the ranks of the clubs and officials.

Other football nations (including Germany) recently drew attention to human rights when a Guardian article reported thousands of deaths around the World Cup construction sites in Qatar.

If Qatar wanted to present itself in a better light by investing in sport, it has not yet worked.

Nevertheless, there is not a very big confrontation with the future World Cup host.

Don't break with him.

Many important protagonists from the world of sports (including FC Bayern) receive sponsorship money from Qatar, which is probably one of the reasons why one does not hear criticism from them.

The investment has paid off economically: According to Forbes, PSG ranks ninth in the ranking of the most valuable football clubs in the world. The club is worth 2.5 billion US dollars and, according to the auditing firm Deloitte, is one of the clubs with the highest turnover in the world .

Before 2011, the club did not appear in the top 20 of these lists.

But PSG have still not won the Champions League. Last year, the team only failed in the final at Bayern Munich. This year, after the 1: 2 in the semi-final first leg against Manchester City, it could be over against the project funded from Abu Dhabi. Politically, Abu Dhabi and Qatar are deeply enemies. At least Qatar has not been able to buy the greatest sporting success so far.