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Execs & Entrepreneurs January 17, 2023
Shlomo Sprung
Shlomo Sprung

Is PSG Owner Qatar Sports Investments Gearing Up to Buy Liverpool FC?

Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Last Updated: July 1, 2023
With FSG exploring a sale of the famous club, Qatar Sports Investments reportedly has designs on becoming the third Premier League ownership group from the Persian Gulf region.

In December, Qatar joined South Africa in 2010 and Spain in 1982 as the only men’s FIFA World Cup host countries not to make it out of the group stage in the tournament’s storied 93-year history. So, if your national side can’t measure up, why not buy yourself a team you can be truly proud of?

Qatar Sports Investments, an ostensibly private Qatari consortium with close ties to the country’s ruling family — it could very well be owned by the Qatar Ministry of Finance and the nation’s Olympic committee, but the facts are murky — has reportedly prioritized purchasing Liverpool FC from Fenway Sports Group, which put the iconic English Premier League club up for sale in November.

Forbes’ 2022 soccer valuations had Liverpool worth $4.45 billion, a 9% increase from 2020 and a figure that makes them the No. 4 most valuable team in the sport behind Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Manchester United. The Boston-based FSG bought the team for $344 million in 2010 and could easily fetch $4-5 billion for LFC now, which QSI could certainly afford.

The Qatar Sports Investments portfolio has notably included Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain since 2011, the club Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, and Neymar call home.

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While Liverpool is struggling this season in England’s top flight, it won its first Premier League title in 30 years in 2020, took home the UEFA Champions League title in 2019 for the first time in 14 years, and has won the FA Cup, Carabao Cup, and Club World Cup while making improvements to legendary home stadium Anfield, as well as its academy and training grounds.

If a deal goes through, Liverpool would become the third Premier League club with ownership based in the Persian Gulf region — United Arab Emirates Deputy Prime Minister Shiekh Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi led the purchase of Manchester City in 2008, while Saudi Arabia’s sovereign Public Investment Fund purchased a majority stake in Newcastle United in 2021.

As noted by FourFourTwo and others, a February bid from QSI is reportedly likely for either a full or partial purchase of Liverpool FC, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley assisting in the sale. Other suitors will also be in play with formal bids emerging over the coming weeks.

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Shlomo Sprung

Shlomo Sprung is a Senior Staff Writer at Boardroom. He has more than a decade of experience in journalism, with past work appearing in Forbes, MLB.com, Awful Announcing, and The Sporting News. He graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2011, and his Twitter and Spotify addictions are well under control. Just ask him.