Manchester City and PSG's strange alliance exposes the biggest problem in modern football

Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain meet at the Etihad on Wednesday in the Champions League, a fixture that goes well beyond football. What was once a rivalry shaped by the Gulf blockade is now a strategic alliance between two state-backed clubs competing for influence over the game's institutions. The match comes days after the Premier League's disciplinary case against City became public, with PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi emerging as one of the English club's most prominent defenders.

• City and PSG have moved from diplomatic tension to a visible alliance within European football's power structures.
• Nasser Al-Khelaifi publicly defended Ferran Soriano and Manchester City at the European Football Clubs general assembly.
• Abu Dhabi and Qatar represent two opposing models of state influence: combative chaos and institutional control.
• The Etihad fixture takes place amid FIFA's governance crisis and criticism of UEFA's past inaction.
• The Premier League stands alone in having brought the City case to a conclusion.

What Manchester City and PSG are playing for at the Etihad beyond the Champions League

The Champions League meeting between Manchester City and PSG is not just about positions in the standings. The two clubs that once produced some of the most strained encounters in European football now showcase a reconciliation with clear political undertones.

During the Gulf blockade, Abu Dhabi was one of Saudi Arabia's key allies in isolating Qatar. That fracture spilled into football and marked the early European meetings between the two sides. Less than a decade later, the landscape has shifted completely and the region's hierarchies have been redrawn.

From Gulf tension to Al-Khelaifi's full-throated defence of Manchester City

Just two weeks ago, Nasser Al-Khelaifi came to Manchester City's defence during the general assembly of European Football Clubs, the body he chairs and on whose board Ferran Soriano sits. Asked about the punishment the English club could face, the Qatari official rejected the word "cheating" and described City's chief executive as "very honest" and deeply respected.

"You are using the word 'cheating' but, for them, they didn't cheat," said Al-Khelaifi, who initially looked irritated at the question.

The ambiguity around which "we" Al-Khelaifi was referring to leaves plenty of room for interpretation. If he was speaking as EFC president, the stance is predictable. If he was speaking on behalf of the PSG leadership and the wider Qatari hierarchy, the backing takes on far greater geopolitical meaning.

Two models of state power: Abu Dhabi's chaos and Qatar's control

City and PSG were the first two European clubs owned by foreign states, and their early problems were strikingly similar. Both combined lavish spending on players with huge investment in infrastructure, in Manchester and Paris alike, and both breached financial rules before forcing UEFA into settlements that were never part of the regulations.

The real divergence came between the Football Leaks revelations of November 2018 and the Super League crisis of April 2021. Since then, City have been on a war footing, in keeping with how US military figures describe Abu Dhabi as "Little Sparta". The emirate has driven conflicts in Yemen, Libya and Sudan, all tied to a wider obsession with eradicating the political Islam that toppled autocratic leaderships during the Arab Spring.

That extended to City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who pressured David Cameron's government to take tougher action on the Muslim Brotherhood. The language he used then draws obvious parallels with the approach the club has taken towards the Premier League: difficult conversations becoming far more difficult.

Qatar, by contrast, has sought to manage the Muslim Brotherhood and other similar groups. Its strategy has been to become an international mediator, a Switzerland of the Gulf rather than a Little Sparta. Beneath that diplomatic surface, however, lies a steel core, as countless football-related cases have shown.

How Qatar has built its influence over FIFA and UEFA through PSG

Al-Khelaifi is the most visible figure in that strategy. At the head of the body representing European clubs, his influence in football is such that many senior figures saw him as the only man capable of challenging Gianni Infantino for the FIFA presidency. Those close to the Qatari official insist he was never interested. Geopolitical insiders, however, suspect the Emir of Qatar, whose former tennis instructor Al-Khelaifi was, expressly did not want him to challenge Infantino.

Qatar was among the first to back the FIFA president during the governance crisis, and that support was seen as crucial to Infantino digging in. Others describe it as the classic Qatari approach of playing all sides. They may not even need their own president at FIFA.

In the weeks before the EFC general assembly, the tone shifted. EFC figures were suddenly saying they thought Infantino would stay. Then, at the assembly itself, Al-Khelaifi announced plans to expand the EFC into World Football Clubs. An agreement with FIFA is said to be much closer, especially as the expansion would involve further plans for the Club World Cup.

The Al-Khelaifi and Ceferin relationship, UEFA's latest blind spot

That move has tested the closeness between Aleksander Ceferin and Al-Khelaifi, a relationship already compared to the UEFA president's friendship with former Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli, the blind spot that led into the Super League.

Qatar exploited that crisis too, using it to propel Al-Khelaifi to the top of the EFC in the first place. His public backing of a fourth Ceferin term is read as a political sop in that context. The announcement that Ceferin would run again, contradicting his own previous stance on term limits, was accompanied by recommendations for FIFA reform. One proposal is to strengthen the bureau as a check on the president, a body in which the chair of the EFC and future WFC would only accumulate more influence. In practice, that would give Qatar a say in shaping both FIFA and UEFA.

Why the Etihad fixture matters despite the Premier League charges

The Premier League stands apart in one sense: it has brought this profoundly complicated case to a conclusion. For now, the greater powers have not won. Hence the paradox of Sunday's big game against Liverpool being rendered almost meaningless while Wednesday's fixture at the Etihad retains a different symbolic weight because of UEFA's previous failure to act.

Many European football figures feel the PSG deserves far greater scrutiny, yet there is a sense that no one can touch them now. France maintains a strangely dependent relationship with Qatar. It is control on one side, chaos on the other.

Against Al-Khelaifi's ubiquity, many have noted Al Mubarak's absence from Anfield. It feeds the suspicion that Abu Dhabi will come to feel increasing shame about the whole affair and may eventually sell the club. None of that will be evident on Wednesday. There will be a grand display of unity, including from Pep Guardiola, City's paid global ambassador. Standing back, almost above it all, will be Al-Khelaifi.