Last week, David Belliard, deputy mayor of Paris, raised the issue of the purchase of the Parc des Princes by PSG, which did not apply to acquire the Stade de France. “I do not want and we do not want the sale of the Parc des Princes to Qatar or, in any case, the sale of the Parc des Princes. Qatar has enough resources to invest in this legendary stadium that is the Parc des Princes. In any case, as a Parisian elected official, I will oppose any sale of the Parc des Princes to Qatar or other private interests. Yesterday, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi responded to him on the microphone of RMC Sport. “Maybe because we are from Qatar, because we are Arabs? It’s not right… Even legally, I don’t think he can say that… It’s serious, really! Racism? I don’t know what the lawyers say about it but it’s really serious (…) It hurt me a lot. Not for me because I don’t really know who this deputy is. But if I really hear it as a human being, it’s not good. We are in France, we are in the land of freedom. I think this is really very serious. For the stadium, we make no secret of it, the truth is that we have a new American investor Arctos and one of the conditions he wants is to be the owner of our stadium. Today if we really want to be competitive with other European clubs, we have to have our stadium. For me, the Parc des Princes is the best stadium in the world, there are no questions about that. But our supporters need bigger and closer to the pitch, a bit like in England. When we play, we want to have one of the best stadiums in the world and we want to invest.
The rest after this ad
The elected environmentalist responded in The Parisian. “Calling me racist amounts to defamation, and is not at the level of the issues of this important debate (…) I have explicitly indicated that I will oppose the sale of the Park to the Qataris, current tenants via PSG, as well as any other private interest. These are my exact words that everyone can find in my interview. Yes, I accept the fact that I will oppose the sale of this Parisian heritage to private interests, whatever their nationality. I believe that this must remain a common good and therefore a municipal good.” The standoff continues between PSG and Paris town hall.
Pub. 01/10/2024 07:31 Updated 01/10/2024 08:26
2024-01-10 06:31:19
#Nasser #AlKhelaïfi #accused #defamation #deputy #mayor #Paris
