PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN’S Qatari president was placed under investigation by Swiss prosecutors yesterday for suspected bribery of a top Fifa executive to get World Cup broadcasting rights.

Criminal proceedings against Nasser Al-Khelaifi, CEO of Qatar-owned BeIN Media Group, former Fifa secretary-general Jerome Valcke and an unnamed “businessman in the sports rights sector” were announced by the office of Switzerland’s attorney general on in a case that involves the award of broadcast rights for the next four World Cups from 2018 through 2030.

The proceeding against Al-Khelaifi is one of the first direct links to Qatar in sweeping investigations by federal law enforcement authorities in Switzerland, the United States, France, Fifa and the 2018-2022 World Cup bidding contests.