Abstract
Scholarship on Qatar is in general agreement that state-owned companies serve also as tools for Qatar to achieve its overall foreign policy objectives to brand the state and gain soft power. This article compares how Qatar Airways’ sponsorship agreements with three major European clubs –– Paris Saint-Germain FC (PSG), Bayern Munich, and FC Barcelona –– have been perceived. It examines the challenges Qatar faced in winning the hearts and minds of ordinary people like international football fans, who have concerns about Qatar’s domestic issues, and global elites, who are more concerned with geopolitics. This is particularly noticeable in the cases of Bayern Munich and Barcelona. Activism by Barcelona fans forced Qatar Airways to improve its crew member contracts by removing a ban on marriage and pregnancy, showing that activism can be highly effective when focused on specific issues. The least resistance towards Qatari sponsorship was in Paris: most PSG fans associate the club’s Qatari owners with success, in contrast to Barcelona and Bayern football clubs, which were already successful before their sponsorship contracts with Qatar Airways. This article concludes by arguing that it is important for Qatar’s state-run companies to openly engage with critics on controversial topics.
Published Version
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