The actual Champions League last | Invesloan.com

Good morning from Bavaria, where bookies expect Qatar-owned Paris Saint-Germain to complete their 14-year mission and be crowned European champions. To do that they’ll have to beat an ageing but dogged Inter Milan.

If last year’s Champions League final was a reminder that European football’s old guard can still mix it with the best, this time around it’s all about new money. More on that below.

Plus we explain some of the reasons why the stadium arms race is proving hard work for many of those trying to keep up. Do read on — Josh Noble, Sports Editor

Qatar versus Oaktree

Paris Saint-Germain and Internazionale go head to head in the Champions League final later today. The French heavyweights would be first-time winners, while the Italian Serie A runners-up are chasing a fourth triumph.

But here at Scoreboard, we watch football in a different way. Off the pitch, the two clubs say a lot about the state of the game.

PSG are owned by Qatar Sports Investments, a vehicle of the Gulf state that took majority ownership of the club from 2011. Distressed debt investor Oaktree seized control of Inter from Suning last year after the Chinese retail group failed to repay a €400mn loan in time.

Whereas Inter will feel confident of defying the odds after beating FC Barcelona in the semi-finals, the Italian club’s finances are also overshadowed by PSG.

The French side’s operating revenue, bolstered by sponsorships with Qatar Airways and Visit Qatar, came to more than €800mn in 2023-24, roughly double the equivalent figure at Inter, according to Football Benchmark.

PSG’s staff costs of €659mn equated to 82 per cent of those revenues, whereas Inter’s €227mn wage bill was a more prudent 57 per cent. The French club’s net spend — the difference between the price for players signed and sold — was €518mn from 2021-22 to 2024-25, whereas Inter recorded a net income of €115mn in that time.

Both teams have reduced their pre-tax losses in recent seasons, with PSG’s €56mn in 2023-24 still bigger than Inter’s €27mn.

But which club is more valuable? According to Football Benchmark’s 10th annual valuations report, PSG’s enterprise value, including debt, is more than €3.7bn, the eighth highest in Europe. Ranked 14th with an EV of €1.7bn, Inter wasn’t even the highest-ranked Italian club. That accolade went to rivals AC Milan, owned by Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital, with an EV of €1.8bn.

Inter has reached this stage with a far smaller budget than PSG. But the numbers are only part of the story.

PSG boss Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, who leads QSI and sits on the board of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, is already a powerful figure in football. He was credited with helping to bring down the attempted breakaway European Super League in April 2021, sits on Uefa’s executive committee, chairs the influential European Club Association and Qatari broadcaster beIN.

But if PSG win the Champions League after parting ways with Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Neymar, would validate Al-Khelaïfi’s decision to shift PSG’s focus from megastars to a more youthful, hard-working team. And although Qatar hosted the Fifa World Cup in 2022, the biggest prize in European football would be overdue reward for the Gulf state, which has invested so heavily in pursuit of success and brand recognition.

The question is if a distressed debt specialist’s team can spoil the party.

PSG lost to Germany’s Bayern Munich in 2020. Inter also lost their last final, a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City. The Italians were the last team outside of the English, Spanish and German leagues to win the trophy. That was back in 2010. There’s history to be made today.

Grand designs: the uphill battle to build stadiums

Stadium rebuilds and upgrades are all the rage in football right now. Big clubs are in an arms race to create venues that maximise revenue, from high rolling fans quaffing champagne in hospitality, curious tourists wanting to snap selfies in the team museum, or from music lovers willing to splash our to big name artists perform on the pitch. Small clubs want a piece too, in an effort to avoid being completely left behind.

To do all this, some are appealing to central governments for funding — ostensibly to improve transport links and set up the area for long-term economic growth. We lay out the broad strokes of that debate in England in our latest Big Read, which takes you on a tour around Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.

But transport is just one of the major hurdles these stadium projects face. Planning can be slow and cumbersome, especially as most existing venues sit in the middle of densely populated residential areas. Just ask Real Madrid what complications that can bring, even when the building work is done. And competition for music acts is fierce — there are only so many Taylor Swifts and Beyoncés to go around.

Then there’s financing. Football clubs are seen as pretty bad borrowers, and as such tend to face painfully high interest rates. Stadiums are different — they have more reliable and visible revenue streams attached, due to sponsorship and hospitality. But those benefits tend to kick in only once the place is up and running.

“Ensuring these, plus various other factors, come together is no easy feat but the ultimate rewards from stadium-led regeneration can be huge and felt far beyond the stadium itself,” said Becky Stormer, head of UK sports sector at real estate services group CBRE.

And there’s another major challenge that doesn’t get talked about as much: finding a builder willing to take the job on. There are plenty of cautionary tales from the past of contractors buckling under the pressure of a stadium build, meaning many now steer clear of the sector.

“The risk profile of these stadiums now means it is very difficult to find a contractor who will take these projects on,” said John Rhodes, director of sports and entertainment at architecture firm HOK. “They don’t want to take the risk because these projects are big. The liquidated damages are big. If you don’t deliver, you’ve got to pay for the revenue the building is not generating.”

He adds: “It’s also the brand impact. If that stadium’s not finished, you’re on the front of the newspaper every day.”

With building costs and borrowing costs both rising fast, the economics of a stadium upgrade or rebuild are looking increasingly challenging. Tottenham Hotspur chair Daniel Levy has previously said the club simply wouldn’t have been able to build their £1.2bn stadium if the plan were trying to get off the ground today.

And yet, to some extent, clubs have little choice but to push on. Bigger clubs are getting bigger, and staying competitive on the pitch increasingly means doing the same off it. Or, as one club chair put it: “The numbers are mad. But the only thing madder than doing it is not doing it.”

Highlights

• Would you wager that Flutter and DraftKings will continue to dominate US sports betting? A company advised by Donald Trump Jr has identified a regulatory quirk that may turn the odds against the bookies in the $14bn sector.

• Insurance executive Andrew Cavenagh and the investment arm of the San Francisco 49ers NFL team have bought a majority stake in Glasgow football club Rangers. They’re the latest foreign investors to buy into Scottish football.

• India’s largest streaming platform JioHotstar rivals Netflix for subscribers thanks to the popularity of the world’s richest cricket league.

• Here’s how Heineken used sport to tap into China’s beer market.

• And finally, here’s what Formula 1 can teach the National Health Service.

Final Whistle

Manchester United lost the Europa League final to Tottenham Hotspur, missed out on Champions League football next season, and jetted off to Asia for a postseason tour to get in some extra revenue.

Despite its worst season since 1974, United still has a huge following in the region, a loyal fan base that was boosted by the trophy-laden years under former manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

In April, United climbed to second in a ranking of European football clubs’ online performance in key regions in Asia, up from sixth the prior year.

But one rival remained above United in the Asia Digital Performance Index compiled by sports agency IMG’s Mailman Group. That’s right, Manchester City.

In Malaysia, United’s Dutch forward Joshua Zirkzee assured fans that next season will be better.

“After rain, the sun always comes up and shines,” he said, before leading a chant of “U-NI-TED, U-NI-TED!”