Sporting Braga sell stake to PSG owners QSI: club remains majority owner
Nasser Al-Khela•fi
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Al Khelafi is expanding its sphere of influence in European football: the PSG owner and QSI boss has taken over shares in Sparta Braga
At the Portuguese first division club Sporting Braga there is now a little PSG and desert dust in the air. As the club has now confirmed, QSI (Qatar Sports Investment) has acquired a stake in the third-placed Portuguese league.
As boss of QSI and Paris Saint Germain Nassar Al Khelafi is already well known. Apparently it is no longer enough for the billionaire to sign new players at PSG with deals worth millions or to offer absurd contracts. He has now found a new toy in Sporting Braga. As the Qatari holding company and the club announced on Monday, QSI will take over shares of the minority shareholder Oilvedesportos SGPS.
Although the exact figures are not known, Braga indicated that the club will remain the majority owner. According to the Portuguese and French media, QSI has acquired a 21.67 percent stake in the company.
Braga welcomes QSI ‘with enthusiasm’
In an official statement from the club, Braga “enthusiastically welcomed the addition of QSI to its shareholder structure” but stressed that the transfer of shares to QSI would not require “any changes in the club’s governance”. The “complete decision-making autonomy of the committees” is guaranteed.
Braga is the second club in Europe in which QSI and thus the PSG owners own shares. Belgian club KAS Eupen is already involved in a similar deal. Four PSG players went to Eupen on loan or on a permanent basis last summer. There is a suspicion that Braga will also regularly train PSG talents in the future. So the “sheikhisation” of European football is ongoing and certainly not over yet.
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This article was originally published on 90min.com/de as Sporting Braga sell stake to PSG owners QSI: club remains majority owner released.