The 2024-25 UEFA Champions League has reached its final game and on Saturday, May 31 the trophy will be awarded to the winner of a matchup that pits Inter Milan against Paris Saint-Germain at Allianz Arena in Munich.
This soccer match is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. EDT and will be broadcast on CBS. Fans looking to watch this match can do so for free by using DirecTV, which offers a free trial, or FuboTV, which also offers a free trial as well as up to $25 off your first month. Paramount+ also offers a free trial and has exclusive access to the UEFA Champions League along with NWSL action. Sling TV doesn’t offer a free trial but has promotional offers available for streaming the match.
Inter is looking for its fourth Champions League title and first since 2010 while PSG is looking to bring home its first ever Champions League trophy. Inter last played in the Champions League final in 2023 when it lost 1-0 to Manchester City. PSG suffered the same fate in 2020 when it fell to Bayern Munich in its most recent final, which was also the start of a six-year run in which PSG reached the Champions League semifinal or better four times.
In the semifinal, PSG defeated Arsenal 3-1 on aggregate after a 1-0 victory in the first leg and a 2-1 win in the second. Inter had to go to extra time in the second leg against Barcelona in order to escape with a 7-6 win on aggregate. The first leg was a 3-3 draw and the second went 4-3 in Inter’s favor.
Who: Paris Saint-Germain vs. Inter Milan
When: Saturday, May 31 at 3 p.m. EDT
Where: Allianz Arena in Munich
Stream: DirecTV (free trial); FuboTV (free trial); Paramount+ (free trial); SlingTV
Betting: Check out our MA sports betting guide, where you can learn basic terminology, definitions and how to read odds for those interested in learning how to bet in Massachusetts.
What is DirecTV?
DirecTV is an internet TV service that offers your favorite entertainment, news and sports channels, as well as local TV stations and regional sports networks. Sign up now and get three free months of premium channels including MAX, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME and Starz.
What is FuboTV?
FuboTV is an internet television service that offers more than 200 channels across sports and entertainment including Paramount+ with SHOWTIME. From the UEFA Champions League to the WNBA to international tournaments ranging across sports, there’s plenty of options available on FuboTV, which offers a free trial and up to $25 off the first month for new customers.
What is Sling TV?
Sling TV offers a variety of live programming ranging from news and sports and starting as low as $20 a month for your first month. Subscribers also get a month of DVR Plus free if they sign up now. Choose from a variety of sports packages without long-term contracts and with easy cancellation.
What is Paramount+?
Paramount+ is a streaming platform with hundreds of thousands of tv episodes and movies available along with the ability to access even more content through Paramount+ with SHOWTIME. Watch the NFL on CBS and the UEFA Champions League through the basic service, or upgrade for additional sporting events such as NWSL games and The Masters.
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Champions League final highlights Al-Khelaïfi ties to PSG, UEFA, beIN and Qatar
By GRAHAM DUNBAR and SAMUEL PETREQUIN AP Sports Writers
The Champions League final on Saturday will be an especially busy one for Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, perhaps the most multi-tasked official in world soccer.
As president of Qatar-owned Paris Saint-Germain since 2011, Al-Khelaïfi’s main goal is seeing his team become champion of Europe for the first time against Inter Milan in Munich.
As chairman of the influential European Club Association, he leads 700 member teams increasingly taking over from UEFA in shaping sporting and commercial decisions for the Champions League. It also puts him on UEFA’s strategy-setting executive committee.
As chairman of Qatari broadcaster beIN Media Group, Al-Khelaïfi controls exclusive Champions League rights to air the final in the Middle East, North Africa and much of South-East Asia.
“Nasser Al-Khelaïfi is considered a visionary leader in the media industry,” beIN says on its website, adding that in 2016 he “also acquired the Hollywood film studio Miramax.”
He also is a minister in Qatar’s government, a director of its sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and chairman of Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) that owns PSG.
QSI and Al-Khelaïfi — a former tennis professional — also are key in the fast-emerging racket sport padel which has ambitions to be an Olympic sport, maybe in time for the 2036 Summer Games that Qatar and its tennis-loving Emir want to host.
Among the invited VIP guests in Munich is Thomas Bach, the outgoing though still influential president of the International Olympic Committee.
Saturday can be a peak of Al-Khelaïfi’s 14-year career in international soccer that has fueled talk — despite ongoing investigations of his sports career by French authorities — he could be a future FIFA president.
Al-Khelaïfi declined comment to The Associated Press after a recent UEFA meeting in Bilbao, Spain.
In a statement, PSG said he “doesn’t want to be a distraction and wants humble focus for the team.”
From tennis to soccer
Now aged 51, Al-Khelaïfi was a tennis pro who played for Qatar in the Davis Cup, bringing him into contact with the future emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Al-Khelaïfi’s ATP biography shows his ranking peaked at No. 995 and he played two matches on tour. The first in 1996 was against world No. 2 Thomas Muster in Austria. Brief footage shows a good-natured exchange of shots with Muster in a 6-0, 6-1 mismatch.
Al-Khelaïfi’s career ended in 2003 and he joined the start-up Al Jazeera Sport as “director of rights acquisitions,” according to beIN.
Qatar stunned soccer in 2010, when FIFA awarded it 2022 World Cup hosting rights, and PSG was bought within months.
Rising in soccer
The rise of ambitious clubs fueled by Middle East sovereign cash — Qatar and PSG, Abu Dhabi and Manchester City — concerned the storied elite. The ECA helped UEFA introduce financial control rules for European competitions that saw both clubs deducted 20 million euros ($22.7 million) of Champions League prize money in 2014.
Still, while Man City did not get on the ECA board, Al-Khelaïfi was elected in 2016. Three years later he got one of two seats reserved for clubs on the UEFA executive committee (ExCo) — despite in-house cautioning about conflicts of interest.
Conflicted interests?
On election day in 2019 in Rome, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin was asked about potential conflicts of interest around Al-Khelaïfi. BeIN was, and still is, among UEFA’s main clients also owning extensive European Championship rights.
Ceferin’s narrowly focused answer was that ExCo members are not involved in approving commercial deals.
Any conflict worked in UEFA’s favor in 2021 when ECA leaders launched the Super League project designed to rival and replace the Champions League, which beIN broadcasts.
PSG’s refusal to join rebel clubs from Spain, Italy and England helped to undermine the breakaway that ultimately failed amid a fan backlash and British government threats of legislation.
In the fallout, Al-Khelaïfi took over leading the ECA and quickly repaired relations with UEFA and Ceferin.
One year later, UEFA opened a disciplinary case into claims the PSG president confronted the match referee after losing in the Champions League at Real Madrid.
When UEFA published the verdict Al-Khelaïfi was no longer cited and blame was put on sporting director Leonardo, who PSG had fired weeks earlier.
Challenges in France
Al-Khelaïfi is not always popular in France where PSG has won 11 of 14 league titles during Qatari ownership. His powerful role has attracted criticism, particularly from John Textor, the American owner at Lyon, including that PSG’s funding model involving Qatari money allegedly breaks European Union laws.
The pair have argued about poor management of the league’s TV rights. In leaked footage from a 2024 meeting of Ligue 1 club owners, Al-Khelaïfi called Textor a cowboy. Textor described his rival as a bully with a conflict of interest given his role at beIN.
Al-Khelaïfi’s legal challenges in France include some not related to PSG. The recent preliminary charges about possible alleged corruption relate to his links to a French businessman.
Proceedings were dropped in relation to Qatari bids to host track and field’s world championships, which Doha staged in 2019.
In Switzerland, Al-Khelaïfi stood trial twice and was acquitted both times on charges of inciting a top FIFA official to commit aggravated criminal mismanagement from 2013-15.
His lawyers said after the second acquittal in 2022 that “years of baseless allegations, fictitious charges and constant smears have been proven to be completely and wholly unsubstantiated — twice.”
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AP Sports Writer Tales Azzoni contributed from Bilbao, Spain
The Associated Press contributed to this post
