The sacking of the coach was even stranger than that of Fischer in Zurich: after many years of crisis, Antoine Kombouaré had led Paris PSG to the top. But there was neither a bonus nor a reprieve for the fall champions. Kombouaré is not sexy enough, not a self-promoter, not a rhetorical showman for media conferences. That's why he was sent to the desert, where the oil sheikhs who had bought out PSG shortly before had come from.
The new owners from Qatar brought in the smart Italian Carlo Ancelotti. The signing of David Beckham was announced for weeks. But he never came, which would have done as little for PSG's game as Ancelotti improved it. Apparently, Beckham had demanded a guarantee of minimal playing time in every match. But the transfer should not have failed because of this. Because just as important as the victories and spectator numbers at the Princes Park Stadium are the ratings in China, which Beckham would have improved. The abbreviation PSG stands for the second global "Parisian fun company" alongside Euro Disney.
The television channel CFoot has fallen victim to the offensive from the Orient. The league had set it up in order to be able to exploit unsold rights itself. With the crisis of the national team in South Africa and the loss of Orange Sport, the pay-TV channel Canal+ was the only candidate and was no longer prepared to pay the horrendous sums. CFoot was switched off in February: Al Jazeera acquired eighty percent of all French championship matches for exploitation in France! The Qatari broadcaster had already bought 133 Champions League matches, practically the entire Europa League and several foreign national championships for broadcast in France. Bundesliga, Spain, Italy. The competition is a blessing for the associations and clubs, which have seen their profits soar instead of the feared losses. In France, it comes at the expense of Canal+, which can no longer keep up, and Europe's largest private broadcaster TF1, for which free-to-air football has become a loss-making business.
The battle against Canal+ has not stopped Qatar from acquiring a stake in parent company Vivendi. And in Lagardère with the world's largest magazine publisher, Hachette. Lagardère has diversified its activities into the sports sector, and Qatar is already the largest shareholder.
The awarding of the World Championship was justified by the expansion of the sphere of influence. Women are one of the untapped continents of this planetary sport par excellence: In France, the aim is to ensure that they are allowed to play with headscarves. In the United States, Al Jazeera has won the rights to the Spanish league. France is merely the launch pad for expansion into other European countries. The games will not be shown on Al Jazeera, and Paris is still busy setting up two channels. They will probably be called Be in sport B. But buying continues. The rights for the European Championships starting in June were not awarded to France, as the 50 million offered by TF1 was not enough for Uefa. The decision will finally be made these days. Al Jazeera is said to have submitted an offer of 120 million euros.
