Champions League final highlights Al-Khelaïfi ties to PSG, UEFA, beIN and Qatar

The Champions League final on Saturday will be an especially busy one for Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, perhaps the most multi-tasked official in world soccer.

As president of Qatar-owned Paris Saint-Germain since 2011, Al-Khelaïfi’s main goal is seeing his team become champion of Europe for the first time against Inter Milan in Munich.

As chairman of the influential European Club Association, he leads 700 member teams increasingly taking over from UEFA in shaping sporting and commercial decisions for the Champions League. It also puts him on UEFA's strategy-setting executive committee.

As chairman of Qatari broadcaster beIN Media Group, Al-Khelaïfi controls exclusive Champions League rights to air the final in the Middle East, North Africa and much of South-East Asia.

“Nasser Al-Khelaïfi is considered a visionary leader in the media industry,” beIN says on its website, adding that in 2016 he “also acquired the Hollywood film studio Miramax.”

He also is a minister in Qatar’s government, a director of its sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and chairman of Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) that owns PSG.

QSI and Al-Khelaïfi — a former tennis professional — also are key in the fast-emerging racket sport padel which has ambitions to be an Olympic sport, maybe in time for the 2036 Summer Games that Qatar and its tennis-loving Emir want to host.

Among the invited VIP guests in Munich is Thomas Bach, the outgoing though still influential president of the International Olympic Committee.

Saturday can be a peak of Al-Khelaïfi’s 14-year career in international soccer that has fueled talk — despite ongoing investigations of his sports career by French authorities — he could be a future FIFA president.

Al-Khelaïfi declined comment to The Associated Press after a recent UEFA meeting in Bilbao, Spain.

In a statement, PSG said he “doesn’t want to be a distraction and wants humble focus for the team.”

Now aged 51, Al-Khelaïfi was a tennis pro who played for Qatar in the Davis Cup, bringing him into contact with the future emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Al-Khelaïfi’s ATP biography shows his ranking peaked at No. 995 and he played two matches on tour. The first in 1996 was against world No. 2 Thomas Muster in Austria. Brief footage shows a good-natured exchange of shots with Muster in a 6-0, 6-1 mismatch.

Al-Khelaïfi’s career ended in 2003 and he joined the start-up Al Jazeera Sport as “director of rights acquisitions,” according to beIN.

Qatar stunned soccer in 2010, when FIFA awarded it 2022 World Cup hosting rights, and PSG was bought within months.

The rise of ambitious clubs fueled by Middle East sovereign cash — Qatar and PSG, Abu Dhabi and Manchester City — concerned the storied elite. The ECA helped UEFA introduce financial control rules for European competitions that saw both clubs deducted 20 million euros ($22.7 million) of Champions League prize money in 2014.

Still, while Man City did not get on the ECA board, Al-Khelaïfi was elected in 2016. Three years later he got one of two seats reserved for clubs on the UEFA executive committee (ExCo) — despite in-house cautioning about conflicts of interest.

On election day in 2019 in Rome, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin was asked about potential conflicts of interest around Al-Khelaïfi. BeIN was, and still is, among UEFA’s main clients also owning extensive European Championship rights.

Ceferin’s narrowly focused answer was that ExCo members are not involved in approving commercial deals.

Any conflict worked in UEFA’s favor in 2021 when ECA leaders launched the Super League project designed to rival and replace the Champions League, which beIN broadcasts.

PSG’s refusal to join rebel clubs from Spain, Italy and England helped to undermine the breakaway that ultimately failed amid a fan backlash and British government threats of legislation.

In the fallout, Al-Khelaïfi took over leading the ECA and quickly repaired relations with UEFA and Ceferin.

One year later, UEFA opened a disciplinary case into claims the PSG president confronted the match referee after losing in the Champions League at Real Madrid.

When UEFA published the verdict Al-Khelaïfi was no longer cited and blame was put on sporting director Leonardo, who PSG had fired weeks earlier.

Al-Khelaïfi is not always popular in France where PSG has won 11 of 14 league titles during Qatari ownership. His powerful role has attracted criticism, particularly from John Textor, the American owner at Lyon, including that PSG’s funding model involving Qatari money allegedly breaks European Union laws.

The pair have argued about poor management of the league’s TV rights. In leaked footage from a 2024 meeting of Ligue 1 club owners, Al-Khelaïfi called Textor a cowboy. Textor described his rival as a bully with a conflict of interest given his role at beIN.

Al-Khelaïfi’s legal challenges in France include some not related to PSG. The recent preliminary charges about possible alleged corruption relate to his links to a French businessman.

Proceedings were dropped in relation to Qatari bids to host track and field’s world championships, which Doha staged in 2019.

In Switzerland, Al-Khelaïfi stood trial twice and was acquitted both times on charges of inciting a top FIFA official to commit aggravated criminal mismanagement from 2013-15.

His lawyers said after the second acquittal in 2022 that "years of baseless allegations, fictitious charges and constant smears have been proven to be completely and wholly unsubstantiated — twice.”

AP Sports Writer Tales Azzoni contributed from Bilbao, Spain

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

FILE -Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Paris Saint Germain's President Nasser al-Khelaifi attend the League One soccer match between Paris Saint Germain and Nice, at Parc des Princes stadium, Nov. 29, 2014. (AP Photo/Francois Mori), File)

FILE -President of French club Paris Saint-Germain Nasser Al-Khelaifi walks on the podium at the 49th ordinary UEFA congress, in Belgrade, Serbia, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File)

FILE -PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi, celebrates after the Champions League semifinal, second leg soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal at the Parc des Princes in Paris, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)