Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), the Qatari investment group that owns French soccer giants Paris Saint-Germain, has announced the acquisition of Belgian side KAS Eupen.
QSI acquires the team from Aspire Zone Foundation (Aspire), a Qatari state-owned sports project, designed to utilize the club to develop participants in its Aspire Academy in Doha and help them enter the European market.
Now, the club’s new owners have said that they will focus on “strengthening KAS Eupen’s sporting model, expanding its commercial capabilities, and identifying growth opportunities across both domestic and international markets.”
Specifically, QSI will aim to improve Eupen’s infrastructure and help strengthen the club’s community relations.
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, QSI chief executive, said: “Qatar Sports Investments is proud to become the custodian of KAS Eupen and contribute to the development of football in Belgium.
“With QSI’s global expertise and passion for football, our objective is to build a modern, competitive football and business structure – bringing pride to KAS Eupen supporters and building on the Club’s great legacy to date.”
Eupen currently sits seventh in the Belgian second-tier Challenger Pro League, having played eight consecutive years in the top-flight Jupiler Pro League between 2016 and 2024.
In acquiring Eupen, QSI further extends its European soccer network in prominent European markets outside the so-called top-5 leagues.
QSI already holds a minority stake in Portuguese Primeira Liga side SC Braga, and in purchasing KAS Eupen, has the potential to add another presence on the continent in a country that also has a number of places for UEFA qualification.
Of course, since QSI acquired Braga, multiple players have moved between the two, with loan deals utilized to help the development of young PSG players.
It is likely, then, that this strategy will be implemented even further, given that QSI will have full control of Eupen, and the proximity, both cultural and geographic, of Belgium to France.
Known as multi-club groups (MCGs), the growing number of teams across Europe (and the globe) sharing ownership and deriving gains from such agreements has been a growing them in recent years.
Back in 2022, Theo Ajadi, manager in Deloitte’s sports M&A advisory practice, told GlobalData Sport (Sportcal): “In general, sports investment has been increasing as of late, and across the board that has driven investor interest. As people have bought one club, at times, there have been various reasons for buying another one.
“There can be greater synergies in multi-club ownership. In most cases of MCO, there is a ‘star’ club, where you have one club which is the pinnacle, and then you have several clubs that feed into that organization.
“This might be for player pathways where you have player development angles, or there could be other synergies or markets that could be more financially sustainable in terms of investing in a club that is maybe mid-table, profitable, or close to profitability and increases the scale of the ownership group, which can be quite enticing for a future owner.”
It has been known for a while that QSI has been aiming to expand its MCG operations. Back in March, the company was reportedly in the race to acquire Spanish club Malaga, although that is yet to come to pass.
Malaga CF is owned in the majority by Qatari businessman Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani, illustrating that QSI has, seemingly, prioritized doing business with fellow Qatari club owners when it comes to expanding its MCG.
