Qatar’s Blood Money Will Definitely Win the Champions League Final

The cabal of clubs like Bayern Munich, Juventus, the Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid, as well as Manchester United and Liverpool, among others, have fought bitterly to keep clubs like Paris Saint-German (PSG), Chelsea, and Manchester City out of their private dining rooms. PSG is the first of the new ultra-rich clubs funded by the Middle East (Qatar) to reach the Champions League final, and have desperately wanted this trophy to cement their place at Europe's premier table.

PSG are, arguably, the biggest example of “sports-washing,” the practice of Middle Eastern government ownership/sponsorship of European sporting entities in a bid to advertise their countries as tourist destinations while also trying to distract from their abominable human rights practices.

PSG are owned by the Qatari government, and it's long been documented what kind of special hell they've put their migrant workers through just to build their World Cup stadiums for 2022. Their record of human rights in general is no less appalling. When you appear on Amnesty International's and Human Rights Watch's website, you can be pretty safe in the knowledge your country is run by demons.

PSG have spent gobs of Qatari money to establish themselves as a European power, including utterly demolishing the transfer record to bring Neymar to Paris from Barcelona. Just their likely starting front three on Sunday — Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, and Angel Di Maria—are valued at some $355M by Transfermarket.com. They cost the club $521M to purchase. But you're not meant to think about how Qatar came about that money or question when it flows to clubs across Europe for their players. Pay no attention to the slaves behind the curtain.

Various fan groups of the club have asked the club to sever ties with Qatar, but those pleas have fallen on deaf ears. Some have even argued that the club has banned some fans from their home games, claiming other reasons but in reality to silence their protests about the club's relationship with Qatar.