da poker： The two state-owned clubs meet in Europe's top-tier competition on Wednesday with more than just three points at stake

da betway： It's a question many football fans are beginning to grapple with: Could you support a team owned by a sovereign wealth fund? The bad press that has come with the takeovers at the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle has left some supporters facing moral quandaries.

Regardless of your opinion on the matter, there's no doubt that Wednesday's meeting between the two aforementioned clubs comes with a background narrative that this is a clash between two Middle Eastern states, rather than two historic football teams in Europe's biggest club competition.

In one corner is Saudi Arabia and Newcastle; in the other Qatar-backed PSG. It's a unique rivalry in that it is more based in the boardroom than on the pitch or in the stands, and a fairly new one – at least in terms of football – at that. There was a 10-year gap between the two clubs being purchased, with Qatari Sports Investments (QSI) buying PSG in 2011 before a consortium that was heavily backed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) completed the purchase of Newcastle in 2021.

Few in attendance at St. James' Park will know nor care much for the potential geopolitical tensions behind the scenes, nor what it might mean for their owners were they to get the better of the other. The majority will be there to celebrate Newcastle's return to the top table of European football, but this derby has plenty more resting on it than just three points.

GettyBackground tensions

Saudi Arabia versus Qatar is not a rivalry based on pedigree. The footballing history for either side couldn't be more different. Saudi Arabia has a more-developed professional structure, as well as deeper footballing roots. The Saudi Pro League's recent growth is not only a by-product of immense wealth and investment, but a greater respect of football culture from within the region. In the eyes of both sides, the two nations do not match-up in terms of footballing quality.

But there are external tensions at play here. In 2017, Saudi Arabia cut ties with Qatar outright, claiming that Qatari foreign policy clashed with Saudi interests in the Middle East. These issues seeped their way into football and sports media, as both sides attacked each other through the press, while Qatar weaponsied its sports networks.

PSG chairman Nasser Al-Khaleifi was at the centre of it all. He has long controlled beIN Sports, the middle east's largest streaming and sports programming outlet. As tensions rose between the two countries, beIN disappeared from Saudi networks altogether. Saudi Arabia, in response, allegedly created their own pirate TV network, which Qatar took issue with.

These issues were, appropriately, reconciled by football. In 2019, Saudi Arabia agreed to participate in the Arabian Gulf Cup, held in Qatar, after threatening to boycott. Slowly, the two sides embraced each other in the media, and Saudis were allowed back on Qatari football coverage. Two years later, at around the same time PIF completed its Newcastle takeover, beIN reappeared on Saudi television. Everyone, it appeared, could watch football again.

Old tempers have still flared, though. An hour before the 2022 World Cup opener, and after agreeing to air 22 games for free, beIN stopped working in Saudi Arabia — with no clear cut explanation. And although many still accessed games through the illegal streaming services that run rampant in the region, it served as a reminder that things can get testy without warning.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesTwo takeovers, 10 years apart

It is with that backdrop, then, that we arrive at these two separate, but similar, projects. In terms of investing in a European club, Qatar got there first. In 2011, QSI, headed by former professional tennis player Al-Khelaifi, made quick work of their acquisition of PSG.

The process began in September 2010, with a meeting between then-French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, then-UEFA president, Michel Platini, the emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, and the Qatari prime minister. How that conversation went is unknown, but it's claimed that it laid the groundwork for Qatar winning Platini's vote to host the 2022 World Cup and helped seal the PSG takeover within 12 months.

Everything about Al-Khelaifi, by then the president of Al-Jazeera, was grandiose. He invoked Lionel Messi at his introductory press conference, pointing out that PSG were on the hunt for "the new Messi". He spent big early, and went about building the most maximalist team Europe had ever seen. Paris was glamour, so he brought footballing glamour to Paris.

Saudi Arabia arrived on the scene 10 years later, though they needed 18 months to get the deal sorted. The British government rejected their attempts to buy Newcastle at the first time of asking, citing discomfort with the links between the Saudi ruling family and the nation's Public Investment Fund.

Eventually, though, the deal got over the line, with Amanda Stavely, a Yorkshire-born businesswoman with experience in Middle Eastern investment, appointed as the public figurehead after buying 10 percent of the club. Their motto was different: Newcastle, they communicated, was not glitzy. Instead, they needed their fans, who had openly despised previous owner Mike Ashley, to fall in love with their team again.

GettyBuilding a winning team

And so began the process of squad building. PSG wanted as many stars as they could find, and they wanted them immediately. Al-Khelaifi spared no expense in getting some of the brightest, most recognisable talents in football to Parc des Princes. It started with Thiago Silva, Edinson Cavani and David Luiz, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic soon followed. In 2013, a 37-year-old David Beckham was brought in on loan for half a season. A sceptic would point out that Laurent Blanc was appointed to manage the club by means of appeasement. After all, Paris needed a Frenchman somewhere.

And it only got bigger from there. In 2017, they activated Neymar's €220 million (£190m/$241m) release clause at Barcelona, taking advantage of the Brazilian's public desire to win the Ballon d'Or by giving him the kind of status — and salary — to match his lofty ambitions. Kylian Mbappe came later that summer as PSG suddenly boasted the two most expensive players on the planet.

Four years later and after countless Champions League failures, Al-Khelaifi went back on his initial promise to not sign Messi and acquired the Argentine legend, too. Here was a team of the 11 best players the Parisians could find, and while they were headline-grabbing names, plenty could see that there were tactical issues within the line-up. So that proved, continuing a pattern that has meant PSG have had seven different managers since QSI bought the club, and are yet to win the Champions League despite investing nearly €2 billion.

Perhaps it was because Newcastle couldn't convince the same level of superstars to make northern England their home, but the PIF took a different route. They opted to outbid everyone else for the best upper-mid level talent in Europe they could find. In came a Kieran Trippier here and a Bruno Guimaraes there. Add in overpays for Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon before Sandro Tonali arrived in the summer of 2023, and the Magpies have assembled a very good line-up, with no clear superstars.

Eddie Howe, an English manager who would be easy for fans to root for, took over from Steve Bruce. Within 18 months, he took the Magpies from the relegation zone to the top four and their first Champions League campaign in two decades. Perhaps more importantly, this is a squad that is still developing.

GettyThe fan connection

Part of the PSG ownership's problem is that they have never seemed to grasp what the fans want. The Collectif Ultras Paris have regularly spoken out again the ownership for years, angered by their neglect of top-tier French players. While prospect after prospect — Kingsley Coman, Christopher Nkunku and Adrien Rabiot, to name a few — left the club, fans were instead asked to embrace a litany of players they felt no connection with. Here was a distinctly Parisian supporters group, cheering for a team founded in the 1970s for the people of Paris, forced once again to get behind a remarkably un-French team.

That is, more broadly, why PSG fans have been accepting of Mbappe's general mayhem in recent years. His repeated threats to leave, public complaints of how the team was assembled, and arguments with his team-mates on the pitch have all been accepted because of his citizenship. He may be a nightmare, but he's a French one. That he's very good at football also helps…

The PIF, meanwhile, have given the impression that they are more in touch with their fanbase. Shortly after the takeover, Stavely spoke of being a good "custodian of the club" and mentioned that she found it "touching" to talk about how much of a "community" Newcastle is. She insisted that she wanted the club to connect with the fans, and after the Ashley years, that was music to supporters' ears.

And while PSG has let its academy kids go, Newcastle have worked hard to keep theirs around and find roles for them within the squad. Sean Longstaff is still a regular for the Magpies, while youngster Elliot Anderson was handed his debut at the end of last season to great fanfare. That boyhood Newcastle fans Dan Burn and Lewis Hall have been among the new arrivals has also helped fuel that connection with those in the stands.