PSG to earn €10M for friendly in Saudi Arabia

PSG will fly to Qatar late on Tuesday to arrive in Doha on Wednesday. Once there, they will fly to Saudi Arabia to play a friendly match postponed for a year. All of this might look like too much for a mid-season meaningless game... until it was revealed that PSG will collect €10M for doing it.

After COVID postponed a friendly between PSG and a team built from the squads of the top two teams from Saudi Arabia (Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal) last year, everything has been set in motion for a showdown happening next Thursday, Jan. 19 in Riyadh.

In a week in which French football stops for a few days before the Coupe de France returns to the schedule over the weekend, PSG is taking advantage of the gap in their calendar to fill their bags in a meaningful way thanks to their Saudi Arabia foes.

The friendly between PSG and the Saudi Arabia All-Star team will allow Paris Saint-Germain to collect €10M all things considered. Of course, that doesn't mean this trip is the most optimal way to prepare for the Round of 32 game against Pays de Cassel next Monday, nor to get the team back into their pre-World Cup form after losing two games in the last two weeks... but money talks.

After losing €370M last season, PSG will recoup €10M for a friendly in Saudi Arabia

French outlet L'Equipe reported the benefit that PSG will earn earlier this week, saying that the whole operation will take PSG out of France "between Tuesday and Friday morning" while the trip "will do good for the club's finances."

Of course, broadcasting the game alone would be a massive coup for all parties involved after the signing of otherworldly talent Cristiano Ronaldo with Al-Nassr and his upcoming clash against his long-time nemesis Lionel Messi.

With losses of €370M last season, any and every single income that can land in PSG's coffers will be very welcomed. All three of Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe will play on Thursday, although it is not known if that's part of the deal with Saudi Arabia or something of Christophe Galtier's own making... Questions, questions...