With the transfer of football phenomenon Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain, Qatar is hitting back at its Gulf rivals with a high-profile soft power play.

Paris Saint-Germain -- owned by sanctions-hit Qatar -- have signed Brazilian forward Neymar from Barcelona for a world-record transfer fee of 222 million euros (around $264 million), more than doubling the previous record.

"The announcement of Neymar's transfer to PSG was piloted among the high ranks in Qatar as a sort of communications strategy that would overshadow the debate around all other considerations, namely terrorism," said Mathieu Guidere, an expert in the geopolitics of the Arab world.

"For days now, nobody has mentioned the negative -- it's all about the Neymar transfer." 

The transfer comes as Qatar faces its worst political crisis in decades, with Saudi Arabia leading a four-state bloc that suspended all ties with Doha last month over accusations the emirate had close ties to Islamist extremist groups and Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran. 

Qatar has denied the allegations, arguing that the sanctions aim to bring the gas-rich emirate to its knees.

 International soft power'

On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain pulled their ambassadors from Qatar, ordered all Qataris to return home and banned Qatar from using their ports or airspace.

The Saudi-led bloc later publicly released a 13-point list of demands as a condition for the end of the sanctions

source:AFP