The intense rivalry between the presidents of French clubs Paris Saint-Germain and Italian Juventus, Qatari Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Andrea Agnelli respectively, will move onto the field when they meet tomorrow, Tuesday, in the first round of the FIFA World Cup group stage. European Champions League.ft.

The confrontation between the two presidents comes more than a year after Al-Khelaifi opposed the European Super League project launched by Juventus with 11 of the old continent’s biggest clubs, most notably Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Their paths are similar, they dominate the championships of their countries, although Juventus have not won the Calcio title in the last two years, and they are regularly defeated in prestigious continental competitions.

But in April 2021, during the announcement of the start of the quickly aborted Super League competition, the friendship between the two men turned into a bitter rivalry, prompting Agnelli, who had called Al-Khelaifi in 2019 a “outstanding professional”, to step down. from the presidency of the Association of European Clubs, Al Khulaifi to take this post in his place.

Al-Khelaifi, along with the officials of the German club Bayern Munich, is leading the opposition to this project, which plays in the European Champions League.

– Two young presidents –

The two young chieftains mobilized their weapons in much the same way. The 46-year-old Italian took over as Juventus president in 2010, a year before the 48-year-old Qatari took charge of the new and highly influential Paris Saint-Germain.

But none of them managed to win the main goal – the title of the European Champions League. Juventus lost the final twice in 2015 and 2017, while the Parisian team lost once in 2020.

Both teams have some problems with the UEFA Financial Fair Play rules. Because of this, Paris Saint-Germain was fined 10 million euros last Friday and Juventus 3.5 million euros.

While the two men are committed to fair play in their fight for the Super League project, they both lost their temper after a bitter elimination from the prestigious continental competition.

Agnelli criticized the referees after he was eliminated from the quarter-finals of the 2017-2018 championship (0-3 in Turin, 3-1 in Madrid) due to a last-minute penalty for the Royal Club. Bianconeri Rimontada.

For his part, having become one of the strongest in European football, Al-Khelaifi was accused last spring by the European Union (UEFA) of “demonstrating aggressive behavior and trying to sneak into the referees’ dressing room”, also in Madrid in the second leg of the final (1-0 in Paris , 1-3 in Madrid).

But only the Brazilian sports director of the Parisian club Leonardo was suspended for one match.

– Change of wagons –

And it seems that the paths of Al-Khelaifi and Agnelli have begun to diverge in the last two years. Nasser has managed to retain his international gem, Kylian Mbappé, who was close to joining Real Madrid, and his club has also regained the league title he relinquished in 2021 to Lille.

On the other hand, the Old Signora team have failed to win the league title in the past two years after extending their control of it for nine consecutive seasons. His bet on Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo did not lead him to a continental title, but he weighed in on the club’s financial bills.

The heir to the kingdom of Agnelli (who holds the reins of carmaker Fiat) has been somewhat conservative in the media due to the aborted start of the European Super League. He is also facing difficulties due to the disappointing results of Juventus, who have been eliminated from the final price of the Champions League in the last three editions and have been content with only fourth place in the last two seasons of the Italian league.

And the ancient team of “old ladies” was influenced by a somewhat unusual duel, changing the coach three times in three years: Maurizio Sarri in 2019, Andrea Pirlo in 2020, then Massimiliano Allegri returned in 2021.

Al-Khelaifi has been no better than Agnelli, as three managers have changed in the technical management of the Parisian club over the past two years: German Thomas Tuchel (December 2020), Argentine Mauricio Pochettino (summer 2022) and Christophe Galtier.

The two presidents have a lot to do, but phone contact still exists between them as they completed a loan deal for Argentine international midfielder Leandro Paredes from Paris Saint-Germain to Juventus this summer.