Spanish football club Malaga CF are reportedly on the verge of a sale as Paris Saint-Germain owner Qatar Sports Investment (QSI) is looking to become its new majority owner.
Talks between Nasser Al-Khelaifi’s QSI and Malaga CF owners are reportedly “very advanced” and “progressing well”, with a sale close to being finalised.
The potential deal would see QSI acquire both Abdullah al-Thani’s majority share (51%) and the Bluejay Group’s minority share (49%) for a total agreement valued at €100m.
Fresh investment will prove vital for Malaga CF’s future prospects as the club currently sits 15th in the Segunda Division, Spain’s second-tier football league. However, it will be even more important as the Spanish club has been in administration since 2019.
In February 2020, a Malaga judge called for the exit of al-Thani as Club President as an audit into his financial dealings connected to the club revealed he owed Malaga CF more than €7m.
Administration followed, and while the club’s administrator, Jose Maria Munoz, has been able to maintain the club’s financial structure, Malaga CF has been unable to gain promotion back to La Liga since being relegated from the league in 2018, even dropping down to the third-tier of Spanish football in 2023.
Malaga CF’s financial troubles can largely be attributed to Al-Thani’s financial ambitions and dealings, but this was not always the case with the Southern Spanish club.
When Al-Thani first acquired Malaga CF in 2011, the club instantly became financially rich, and the club’s fortunes swiftly changed.
After qualifying for the UEFA Champions League in 2012 and boasting players such as Isco and Santi Cazorla, Malaga CF reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 2013 and were seconds away from the semi-finals, but a last-minute Felipe Santana goal for Borussia Dortmund ultimately knocked Malaga CF out of the competition.
Since this Champions League exit, the club has failed to reach the same heights and the tightening of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play Rules in the mid-2010s would see the club be banned from the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League season due to violating these rules.
But Al-Thani had business ambitions off-the-field he could not maintain. Upon his first arrival on the Spanish South-East coast, he planned for a €400m development of a marina resort in neighboring Marbella.
Despite this effort to regenerate the local area and bring in new funds for the club, Al-Thani was unable to follow up on these plans and it has yet to be built.
However, after 10 years of financial turmoil, the potential arrival of QSI will spell optimism for the club as its ownership of PSG has seen the club become one of the most dominant clubs in France and is marketed as one of the world’s most recognisable teams.
Whilst it remains unclear how much QSI will be willing to invest once a potential deal is finalised, a key priority will be to restore Malaga CF’s status as a La Liga club.
