Qatar looking to buy major English Premier League football club
Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) has held talks with Tottenham Hotspur football club as it eyes up a possible purchase of three major English football clubs, according to Bloomberg News.
The report said Nasser al-Khelaifi, chairman of QSI, had met Tottenham owner and chairman Daniel Levy, in London last week.
If successful, Spurs will be the next significant European football club owned by QSI after it bought the French club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in 2011.
QSI had also been engaged in talks with officials in the English Premier League clubs of Manchester United and Liverpool FC.
Analysts said that talks are part of a Qatar 2023 strategy to invest more in sports, driven by its successful hosting of the World Cup 2022.
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However, European club football rules disallow teams with the same owner from competing in European tournaments.
QSI is reportedly considering buying minority stakes, less than 50 percent of the company's shares in the club, which would not make it the majority shareholder and owner.
The QSI already owns 22 percent of Berga, a Portuguese football club that became second in the Primeira Liga last season.
Tottenham Hotspur said in a statement that "there is no truth in reports that a meeting took place regarding the sale of equity in the club".
Tottenham is reported to be one of the options of QSI. The Glazer family, the US owners of Manchester United, had been looking to inject new investments into the club or for a potential sale.
Tom Werner, the Liverpool chairman, said in November that Fenway Sports Group, the company that owns the club, was also exploring selling it.
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