In the shadow of the Lusail Stadium box,
Nasser Al-Khelaifi
seeks the discretion of the background, shortly before the game between Brazil and Serbia.
The prime minister,
Khalid bin Khalifa Al-Thani
, chats with
Ivanka Trump
, both standing, while the grandchildren of the former president of the United States run between the seats.
Behind, the son-in-law of the controversial Republican leader,
Jared Kushner
, one of his personal advisers, especially for Middle East issues, is confidential.
s with a different Al-Khelaifi than usual.
He is not wearing a suit, but the white 'thob', the usual attire for Qatari men.
Doha is not Paris and the World Cup is not PSG, and the character knows very well that hierarchies are sacred to Arab pride.
"I have no role in the World Cup, I am a visitor, one more Qatari," he says to anyone who asks him.
Al-Khelaifi is not an Al-Thani, he is not related to the ruling dynasty, a fact that highlights the merit of his escalation.
The grandson of a humble pearl fisherman who risked his life in the bay, tennis brought him closer to the current emir when they both dreamed of playing on the professional circuit.
Now he is one of his trusted agents in the West, where he is known as NAK, he dresses in European style and has woven a network of influences capable of investing power in football and simultaneously checking two enemies like
Florentino Perez
Y
javier thebes
.
HUMBLE ORIGIN
Born in 1973, Al-Khelaifi played soccer with other children in the open fields north of Doha and would come looking for lost balls from the exclusive Al-Arabi tennis club.
He was a ball boy and began to play.
The level allowed him to frequent the elites and obtain a scholarship for a school in Nice with
Patrick Mouratoglu
, who years later would train for a decade at
Serena Williams
.
Qatar wanted to prepare a future Davis Cup team, of which Al-Khelaifi would be a part.
In his training stage, in France, he slept in the car if necessary between tournaments, and made food for all his teammates.
In 1987, Al-Khelaifi was 14 years old and an event occurred that would change his life.
When
Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani
he was a boy, the senior emir asked the American ambassador to recommend a tennis teacher.
the chosen one was
mike ries
.
It was necessary, however, to find some player for the prince to practice.
Ries then called Al-Khelaifi, a little older than Tamim.
Together they progressed and became part of the national Davis Cup team, since 1993 at the hands of the Chilean
Pancho Campo
as captain and technical director.
FRIEND OF SERGI BRUGUERA
Nasser, Tamim and Campo shared trips, including training periods at the prestigious academy of
Nick Bollettieri
, in Florida, where they passed
André Agassi
,
Jim Courier
either
anna Kournikova
, among others.
The price of the hour of class is 900 dollars.
The Chilean remembers Al-Khelaifi as a "committed player, who was not physically accompanied, but a hard worker. He was religious and responsible, and never gave up his economics studies."
He achieved his goal of reaching the ATP circuit, in which he debuted with a loss against the Austrian and former number one
thomas mouster
.
At that stage he became friends with
Sergi Bruguera
, current Spanish Davis Cup captain, whom he has invited to the World Cup.
Tamim did not have his level to accompany him and other obligations, but that friendship and time spent together forged a capital trust when the second acceded to the emirate by the decision of
Hamad bin Al Thani
to abdicate in his son, in 2013, something unusual in the monarchies of the Gulf.
The emir father left the World Cup awarded to Qatar, in 2010, in a controversial election in which the hand of the former French president appears
Nicolas Sarkozy
, who would have asked the vote to
michel platini
in exchange for contracts in favor of France and the rescue of PSG.
No investigation, not even the 'García Report', has proven them with evidence, but Qatar Sport Investment, a vertical of the Qatar Investment Authority sovereign fund, bought the club a year after the election.
Al-Khelaifi has been invited to Sarkozy's birthday after leaving the Élysée, where he has rubbed shoulders not only with
Carla Bruni
and characters from the world of culture such as
jean reindeer
either
Roman Polanski
, but with French ministers.
Bruno Le Maire
, which was from Sarkozy and is from
Emmanuel Macron
, It is one of them.
IN PARIS WITHOUT HIS FAMILY
When he was still a prince, the current emir already commissioned Al-Khelaifi, with economic training, for the investments of the sovereign fund.
He is not only in command of PSG, but also of BeinSports, the main holder of the World Cup rights.
Accused in France of being involved in cases of corruption and even kidnapping, he would also have been spied on by a group of ex-police officers.
He lives in Paris on Avenue Foch without his family and he never appears with his wife at public events.
He has no nets and does not drink.
Although those around him say that he is a moderate Muslim,
Abidal
He has remembered how he prayed in his hospital room when he went to visit him.
The capacity for relationships and the strategic sense have led him, however, to intuit the winning side of power.
He has created the first 'club-state', despite the complaints from Thebes, but he is in charge of the ECA, which brings together small clubs.
PSG was the ideal model for the Super League, but he knew how to say no to a project that collapsed before it was born and may have lost one of the last pillars with the resignation of the
Agnelli
at Juventus.
This has allowed him to be very close to Aleksander Ceferin, president of UEFA, and against Florentino, whom he won the second round: Mbappé.
However, he feels more threatened and annoyed by the attacks from the president of LaLiga.
The French star smiles alongside PSG signings on a large mural on the main pedestrian thoroughfare in Down Town Doha, including
Carlos Soler
, so that fans can photograph themselves or shoot some balls that employees of the Parisian club have.
Al-Khelaifi, on the other hand, does not chase his stars in the matches they play in Qatar with their teams.
In front of the spotlight, he shows a public relations smile, but his thing is the second line, the shadow.
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