Tonight's meeting between Premier League's Newcastle and Ligue 1's PSG comes with a background narrative that this is a clash between two Middle Eastern states, rather than two historic football teams in Europe's biggest club competition. On one side are Newcastle and Saudi Arabia while on the other side are PSG and Qatar. This is a unique rivalry in the sense that the rivalry between these two clubs is seen more in the boardroom than on the pitch. There is a 10-year difference between the two clubs being purchased with Qatari Sports Investments (QSI) buying PSG in 2011 before a Public Investment Fund (PIF) led consortium completed the purchase of Newcastle in 2021. 

This derby has plenty more resting on it rather than just three points, there are external tensions at play here. Six years ago, Saudi Arabia cut ties with Qatar outright, claiming that Qatari foreign policy clashed with Saudi interests in the Middle East. The issue did not take long to find its way into football and sports media, with each side attacking the other through the press and Qatar going a step further to weaponize its sports networks. The chairman of PSG Nasser Al-Khaleifi was at the center of it all, he has for a long time been in control of beIN Sports, the Middle East's largest streaming and sports programming outlet. As tension continued to rise between the two countries, beIN Sports disappeared from Saudi's channels altogether as Saudi Arabia created their own pirate TV network which Qatar took issue with. 

The issues, however, were appropriately reconciled by football as in 2019 Saudi Arabia agreed to participate in the Arabian Gulf Cup, held in Qatar, after initially threatening to boycott. The two sides slowly started embracing each other in the media and Saudis were allowed back on Qatari football coverage. Old tempers have still flared up occasionally though, for instance, an hour before the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup beIN stopped working in Saudi Arabia with no clear-cut explanation. Many Saudis still managed to access the World Cup games through the illegal streaming services that run rampant in the region but this instance served as a reminder that things can get testy without warning. 

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So, who wins tonight? Newcastle and PSG are two teams that are fighting hard to emerge from the most hotly-contested group in the competition that also features Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan as members. At the end of the day, this will just be a football match even if both ownership groups and the nations they represent might see it as a chance to gain bragging rights over the other if things go their way. Qatar hosted a successful 2022 FIFA World Cup where Argentina led by the legendary Lionel Messi emerged victorious in a hard-fought final after beating France on penalties. FIFA president Gianni Infantino is keen to take the World Cup tournament back to the region sooner rather than later and Saudi Arabia are the current favourites to host the global showpiece event in 2034. 

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(Image: Goal.com)