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Tennis and Nasser Al-Khelaifi: A Bit for Your Life

Once Nasser Al-Khelaifi was the 995 in the world tennis rankings, now Nasser Al-Khelaifi wants to become number one in football. For that he throws out billions of euros. Are the investments worthwhile?

The years between 1992 and 2003 seem like a section of someone else’s life. It is maybe from the life of Karsten Braasch or Bernd Karbacher. But they are there in black and white, on Wikipedia or in a number of old newspaper articles, they are actually part of Nasser Al-Khelaifi’s biography.

Then 10 years Pass

It’s been a decade when the Qatar tried to make a name for himself as a professional tennis player. Al-Khelaifi then played on the ATP tour and in the Davis Cup. His record is terrifying: 45 matches, twelve wins, 33 losses. On November 4, 2002, he held his highest position in the world rankings: 995th place. His prize money earned in ten years: 16,000 US dollars.

Number one hairstyle, number one smile

It is a ridiculous record. This is at least when you consider Nasser Al-Khelaifi’s remaining life, which was primarily about being number one. He grew up in Qatar, the country with the highest per capita income in the world. He attended number one schools and number one universities. He met with number one business partners, wore a number one hairstyle, smiled a number one smile, and one day became president of the Qatari Tennis Federation.

Later he took over the position of General Manager at beIN Sports, the sports channel of Al Jazeera, and became a leading member of the organizing committee of the World Cup 2022. And because one apparently brings offices in Qatar as a small birthday present, one day he was given one Post “Minister”. However, you don’t want to overload him, he doesn’t have a direct area of ​​responsibility. You can visit https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/who-is-the-psg-chairman-nasser-al-khelaifis-net-worth-qatar/1qceaqzo6n54t1wuvs1nt0xbg1 for a complete briefing about him.

What had such an overachiever lost in 995 place?

Maybe he was just grateful to tennis, so he kept playing. After all, sport had enabled him to do almost anything. About 25 years ago, he met a certain Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on a tennis court in Qatar. At that time he was the crown prince of the Qatari sheik and became his training partner and fatter friend.

Most powerful man in French football?

In addition to all of the above-mentioned number one jobs, Al-Khelaifi also handed over the position of PSG President shortly after the state fund “Qatar Sports Investment” (QSI) bought the French club Paris Saint Germain for 130 million euros in 2011, Today the “L’Equipe” calls him the “most powerful man in French football”.

Nevertheless, little is known about this 42-year-old to this day. Perhaps it is because Al-Khelaifi was not a great man at first. He was filthy rich, could play quartet against himself with his companies, positions and holdings, and he loved hunting falcons. But he often let others talk. He hardly ever gave interviews, and even avoided the press conferences of his Paris Saint-Germain club whenever possible.

When he did give interviews, for example at the FAZ in 2013, he built a wall of phrases and zero sentences in front of him. If you criticized him for the working conditions on the World Cup construction sites, for example, he said in a soft voice: “I can definitely assure you that we have no human rights violations.” or “We are a very warm people, something like that would never let happen.”