According to our colleagues at L’Équipe, PSG president and beIN Media Group, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, has been reported by the Anticor association for illegal interference in the negotiations for the TV rights of Ligue 1 in 2024.
The video caused a stir. The “cowboy” John Textor, the reprimand from Joseph Oughourlian, the annoyance of Nasser Al-Khelaïfi… On February 19, 2025, L’Équipe and France Télévisions revealed excerpts of a meeting between Ligue 1 presidents on the TV rights tender that took place earlier that summer. The meeting featured Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, president of PSG and beIN Sports, co-broadcaster at the time of Ligue 1 with DAZN, engaging in heated verbal exchanges with, notably, Joseph Oughourlian, owner of RC Lens, and John Textor, owner of Olympique Lyonnais.
The two leaders criticized their Parisian counterpart for being in a conflict of interest position. Over a year after these revelations, the Anticor association has taken the case to the Paris public prosecutor’s office for illegal interference as they suspect Nasser Al-Khelaïfi of pressuring club presidents to favor beIN Sports in the tender, as reported by L’Équipe on Wednesday.
Context: Conflict between PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi and other club owners over TV rights negotiations.
Fact Check: The Anticor association has reportedly filed a complaint against Nasser Al-Khelaïfi for illegal interference in the Ligue 1 TV rights negotiations.
Source: L’Équipe
An “absurd” complaint according to Al-Khelaïfi’s entourage
The sports daily specifies that the association fighting against corruption accuses the PSG boss of “trying to influence the board’s decision in favor of the company he presides over.” A complaint deemed “absurd” by “NAK’s” entourage in L’Équipe. “It was the clubs, the league representatives, and even political figures who pressured beIN to finance the broadcast of that match, not the other way around.”
At the time, the creation of a Ligue channel (which became Ligue 1+ last summer) was under discussion, as well as co-broadcasting between DAZN (8 matches) and beIN Sports (one match). The second option was ultimately chosen in an emergency situation for the survival of certain elite clubs.
“Nasser, you have to understand a concept that apparently escapes you at beIN, or PSG, or both, called conflict of interest (…) You intimidate everyone,” lamented Joseph Oughourlian. While John Textor called Al-Khelaïfi a “tyrant.” To which the Qatari retorted, “John, stop talking, you don’t understand anything. You come from I don’t know where, cowboy.”
The day after the revelations, John Textor once again spoke out on the concept of conflict of interest. “All conflicts of interest must be disclosed and mitigated. These are the rules of the best football league in the world, the Premier League, and there is no shame in following a good example,” he explained.
