Doha hosts PSG clash with Monaco in French Champions Trophy / Photo: © AFP/File
Doha hosts PSG clash with Monaco in French Champions Trophy
Paris Saint-Germain could lift their first silverware of the season when they play Monaco in the French Champions Trophy in Doha on Sunday, with the staging of the fixture in Qatar underlining the Gulf state's influence over football in France.
The game is the traditional curtain-raiser to the French campaign. While Spain and Italy have expanded their Super Cup into four-team competitions and taken them to Saudi Arabia, France has regularly staged the Champions Trophy overseas in recent years, since the 2009 edition was held in Montreal, Canada.
This season, it was supposed to be staged in Beijing on August 8 to mark the 60th anniversary of France and China establishing diplomatic relations.
However, the fixture ended up being called off by the Chinese authorities, just like it was a year earlier when the game was due to take place in Thailand.
While last season's edition ended up going ahead in Paris in January, with PSG beating Toulouse, this time Qatar has stepped into the breach.
Ivory Coast was also a potential destination and there would almost certainly have been a large and passionate crowd had the game been staged in the football-mad, French-speaking country in West Africa.
But Qatar stepped in with an offer that persuaded the French league (LFP) -- struggling financially after being forced to accept a much-reduced offer last year for its domestic television rights -- to go to the Gulf.
"Several offers were made, and the Doha solution was the best solution for the date, both for the LFP and for the two participating teams," the French league told AFP.
And so the match -- sponsored by the Qatar tourism authority -- will go ahead at the Stadium 974 in Doha, one of the venues used at the 2022 World Cup.
- 'Like a home game' -
Qatar's influence in French football dates back to the acquisition of PSG by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011.
PSG were an ailing giant at the time, but under QSI and Qatari president Nasser al-Khelaifi, they have been turned into the dominant force in the French game, their financial might crushing all rivals.
The club is on course to win an 11th Ligue 1 title in the last 13 seasons, while victory on Sunday would see them claim the Champions Trophy for the 11th time in 12 years.
Khelaifi is also on the board of directors of the LFP, as well as being chairman of beIN Media Group, which is one of the domestic broadcasters of Ligue 1 in France.
The match usually pits the champions against the French Cup winners, but PSG won both trophies last season and so Ligue 1 runners-up Monaco were chosen as their challengers.
PSG won 4-2 in Monaco in Ligue 1 just before the recent mid-season break and will be favourites to come out on top again, especially given the surroundings.
"This is like a home game for us," admitted PSG coach Luis Enrique during a press conference held during the team's flight to Doha aboard a Qatar Airways jet.
The club has even taken steps to persuade fans to make the trip to attend the game, despite the six-hour flight separating Paris from Doha.
A package comprising a return flight, hotel accommodation and a match ticket was offered for 100 euros ($103) for several hundred fans.
However, the club's ultras -- the most fervent supporters -- turned down the offer for a game in which opponents Monaco will be aiming to lift a first trophy since winning Ligue 1 in 2017.
W.Baxter--TNT
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