Paris St-Germain Rebuilds Identity Under Qatari Ownership

Qatar Sports Investments completed its purchase of Paris St-Germain in 2011 after the club finished 13th in Ligue 1 the prior season. At the time, the new owners feared the team might drop to the second division. The early years under QSI featured large spending on international players including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi.

The approach produced domestic titles and deep European runs but also created dressing-room conflicts over training schedules and playing time.

Club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi later declared the end of the spending-focused period. The club then hired Luis Enrique and adopted an attacking style built around French players. Messi, Neymar, Mbappe, Marco Verratti and Sergio Ramos left the squad.

Luis Enrique required injured players to attend training and dropped Ousmane Dembele for arriving ten minutes late before a Champions League match. PSG recorded the fewest yellow cards among Europe's top leagues this season. Twenty different players scored for the team.

Sporting director Luis Campos handles recruitment while Al-Khelaifi oversees the overall project. The three leaders maintain aligned priorities. The club opened a new training centre built at a cost of about 350 million euros. Nearly half of the team's playing time now goes to French players, many from the academy.

The average age of the starting XI this season was 23 years and 363 days. Six academy graduates made their first-team debuts. PSG will face Arsenal in the Champions League final on Saturday.