Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi is under preliminary investigation in France over a suspected conflict of interest linked to the 2024 sale of Ligue 1 broadcasting rights.
The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed to Reuters that the inquiry concerns Al-Khelaifi’s overlapping roles as PSG president, chairman of beIN Media Group and a member of the governing structures of France’s professional football league.
Both Al-Khelaifi and beIN have rejected the allegations.
The investigation does not constitute a finding of wrongdoing. Prosecutors are seeking to establish whether there is a case to answer over the circumstances surrounding the broadcasting rights negotiations.
The inquiry centres on events in July 2024, when French football was seeking a new broadcasting deal for Ligue 1 after its rights tender failed to produce the expected outcome.
beIN Sports subsequently offered $115 million for the rights to broadcast one Ligue 1 match each week. The Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) accepted the proposal as part of the eventual broadcasting arrangement from the 2024-25 season.
According to L’Équipe, anti-corruption organisation Anticor alerted prosecutors to concerns over Al-Khelaifi’s involvement in discussions surrounding the offer. The organisation is reported to have alleged that his positions within both French football and beIN created a potential conflict of interest and that he pressured other club presidents to back the proposal.
The investigation was subsequently entrusted to France’s anti-corruption and financial police, according to L’Équipe.
Al-Khelaifi’s lawyer, Renaud Semerdjian, has rejected the allegations, describing them as unfounded.
“The allegations made against Mr Nasser al-Khelaifi are without basis, neither legally nor factually,” he told AFP.
The lawyer added that his client had “always acted in an independent, impartial and objective manner”.
A person familiar with the matter told Reuters that Al-Khelaifi had withdrawn from almost all LFP board meetings overthe past year and had not taken part in meetings dealing with matters involving beIN.
beIN has also sought to distinguish Al-Khelaifi's position as chairman from the company's day-to-day management.
In a letter sent to the French Football Federation’s National Ethics and Deontology Council in February, the broadcaster said Al-Khelaifi had no operational or executive responsibilities at beIN Media Group or beIN Sports France. Those functions, the company said, are handled by group chief executive Yousef Al-Obaidly.
The case has drawn attention to the range of roles held by Al-Khelaifi in the European football industry.
He has been PSG president since Qatar Sports Investments acquired the club in 2011, while also serving as chairman of beIN Media Group. He has also been involved in the governance of France’s professional football league.
Those overlapping responsibilities have previously prompted disagreements among French club executives, particularly over the economics and governance of Ligue 1.
The issue has gained renewed attention as French football continues to grapple with the value and distribution of its broadcasting revenues. The failure of the 2024 rights tender forced clubs and the LFP to consider alternative arrangements, eventually resulting in a combination of broadcasters and the league’s own Ligue 1+ platform.
The latest inquiry adds to a series of legal cases involving Al-Khelaifi in recent years, although they relate to separate matters.
In 2025, he was charged in France with complicity in abuse of power in a case involving shareholder voting at a company.
Earlier proceedings relating to alleged corruption surrounding Qatar’s bids to host the 2017 and 2019 World Athletics Championships were ultimately annulled by France’s Court of Cassation in February 2023. The court ruled that French courts did not have jurisdiction to prosecute him in that case.
Al-Khelaifi was also acquitted in a separate Swiss case concerning the awarding of media rights for the 2026 and 2030 World Cups.
The current French investigation is separate from those earlier proceedings.
The investigation remains at a preliminary stage. Prosecutors will examine whether Al-Khelaifi’s conduct during the 2024 Ligue 1 broadcasting negotiations breached French conflict-of-interest rules.
Neither the opening of the investigation nor the allegations made by Anticor establishes that an offence was committed.
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