Newcastle vs PSG, or Saudi Arabia vs Qatar? The Middle East's battle for footballing supremacy comes to the Champions League

The two state-owned clubs meet in Europe's top-tier competition on Wednesday with more than just three points at stake

It's a question many football fans are beginning to grapple with: Could you support a team owned by a sovereign wealth fund? The bad press that has come with the takeovers at the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle has left some supporters facing moral quandaries.

Regardless of your opinion on the matter, there's no doubt that Wednesday's meeting between the two aforementioned clubs 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.

In one corner is Saudi Arabia and Newcastle; in the other Qatar-backed PSG. It's a unique rivalry in that it is more based in the boardroom than on the pitch or in the stands, and a fairly new one — at least in terms of football — at that. There was a 10-year gap between the two clubs being purchased, with Qatari Sports Investments (QSI) buying PSG in 2011 before a consortium that was heavily backed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) completed the purchase of Newcastle in 2021.

Few in attendance at St. James' Park will know nor care much for the potential geopolitical tensions behind the scenes, nor what it might mean for their owners were they to get the better of the other. The majority will be there to celebrate Newcastle's return to the top table of European football, but this derby has plenty more resting on it than just three points.