Rebellion over Visit Qatar shirt deal exposes balance of power in Ligue 1

Today at 03:00 AM

The current existential threat to some of the biggest clubs in the country shows who holds the cards in French football

This is how a senior Ligue 1 club executive put it: "Without PSG, we can't survive. But we can't live with them either." Few of his colleagues at other French clubs would disagree. For "PSG" read "Qatar".

On one hand, Paris Saint-Germain have been transformed by the hundreds of millions spent on acquiring star players after Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) rescued the club from bankruptcy in 2011, and have dominated French football to such a degree that of the 33 major trophies on offer since the 2012-13 season, only 10 have escaped the Parisian juggernaut.