“England built London for herself; France built Paris for the whole world.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
By: Uriel Twito
Paris is considered the flagship of French culture as a whole. The city faithfully represents the classic European spirit, and for decades it has been defined as the cultural center of the old continent. Literature, politics, history, cuisine, and higher education: the ‘City of Light‘ has always been at the forefront of the French national spirit.
You might expect that in sports too, a core part of national identity, the capital would lead the list of top sports clubs. There’s no shortage of precedent. London, for example, is home to six top-tier football clubs competing in the Premier League. Madrid’s football club also tops the standings in Spain’s first division, and many other capital cities show strong involvement in their country’s sporting life. In Paris, football is a whole different story, and you can only understand it through the history of Paris Saint-Germain.
Indeed, the initial numbers look promising. The city has about 360 sports facilities: 172 tennis courts, 131 municipal gyms, 36 pools and 10 teaching pools, 32 municipal stadiums, and six parks that Paris shares with its neighboring districts. Want more numbers? While the starting point of the famous Tour de France changes every year, the final stage always takes place in Paris. The finish line, if you’re wondering, is on the the Champs-Élysées, the city’s most iconic boulevard and a fixture of Paris’s glamorous image. Tennis is another popular sport in Paris; the French Open (Roland Garros) is held every year on the clay courts of the ‘Roland Garros Stadium‘, near the Bois de Boulogne, a public park annexed to Paris in 1929.
Nothing Interests Me, Except Football
For many sports fans, football is really the only sport that matters. Olympic-sized pools, gyms, and tennis courts? Sure, that’s nice. But most of us sports lovers stay loyal to football above all else. Fortunately, a committed Francophile doesn’t have to break that habit to enjoy a trip to Paris. As in other European capitals, football enjoys enormous popularity in Paris and takes the crown as “the most beloved sport.” Much of that credit goes to the city’s flagship club, Paris Saint-Germain.
A glance at the club’s long list of titles and the dazzling roster of stars who have worn its jersey might suggest a storied, veteran powerhouse. The reality, surprisingly, is a bit different. Paris Saint-Germain is not France’s oldest club. Its legacy is the product of just a few decades of football. Marseille, Lyon, and even Lille can boast older clubs with a more deeply rooted fan tradition.
So how did Paris Saint-Germain manage to rise to football fame and top the French league’s list of achievements? In this article, I’ll briefly cover the glamorous club, its emerging legacy, its short but scandal-filled history, its sporting achievements, and finally: a practical guide to spending a proper day at the “Parc des Princes,” the Parisians’ famous home stadium.
The Parisian Code of Football
To many neutral football fans, the Paris club is something of an enigma. There are beloved clubs, there are hated clubs, and there are clubs people love to hate. Paris Saint-Germain falls into the last category. The club from the capital is considered the most successful in all of France and a local powerhouse of titles. Its sporting achievements include 11 league titles, a coveted European cup (one of only two French clubs to hold that honor, alongside Olympique de Marseille), and more than 40 official titles.
Paris Saint-Germain: A Club Profile
The Red and Blues (a familiar nickname for Paris Saint-Germain) enjoy enormous resonance around the world. The club has the largest fan base in France and sits at the center of constant media buzz. Its celebrity fans include political figures like Nicolas Sarkozy, athletes like Tony Parker, and even well-known musicians like DJ Snake. Many celebrities have attended matches at the stadium in recent years, including Beyoncé, Jay-Z, former football star David Beckham, and basketball legend Stephen Curry.
The roster of stars who have passed through the Paris club includes many names familiar to football fans everywhere: Ronaldinho, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Edinson Cavani, and Neymar Jr. Until last season, PSG even fielded a little-known Argentine player you may have heard of: Lionel Messi. Today, Kylian Mbappé is considered the city’s central star, and by many accounts, the best football player in the world.
So, you might ask, why do so many people despise this rich and successful club? The main reason is likely precisely that: being rich and successful. Football fans tend to get swept up in romantic notions about “the beautiful game.” Among fans, there’s a widespread dislike for “nouveau riche” clubs, the newly wealthy outfits that dare to claim a spot at the top of European football without heritage or tradition. To understand the short but complicated story of France’s most hated club, we need a bit of history.
The History of Paris Saint-Germain
Unlike other well-known football clubs, Paris Saint-Germain is remarkably young. In fact, its official founding date is 1970. Its rivals at the top of world football, Manchester United (1878), Barcelona (1899), Bayern Munich (1900), and Real Madrid (1902), all predate it by decades.
Speaking of Real Madrid, this is the place to mention that PSG owes its founding story to the Spanish giant. Here’s the tale: Santiago Bernabéu, the esteemed Spanish president, realized his professional expertise was now needed in the neighboring country. At the time, Olympique de Marseille was considered France’s most important football club. Paris, a city of great cultural weight, had yet to establish a well-known football club. Around this time, a group of ambitious businessmen decided to found a top-tier club that would represent the capital. As a man with rich management experience who understood the heartbeat of football fans, Bernabéu advised the board to launch a crowdfunding initiative. With fan support, Santiago believed, the founders could solve the financial difficulties they faced. The idea was a massive success: 20,000 fans joined the project. The funds raised allowed the young club to clear the regulatory hurdles involved in its founding. On June 17, 1970, PSG was officially established. For the first time in the history of local football, fans had contributed to founding a club.
The Turning Point
Founded by the fans, but taken over by big money. That’s the feeling that lingers for many longtime supporters, who feel that fame and big money turned their beloved club into a commercial enterprise. Just as the club seemed to be building a legacy and carving its path to the top, it was bought by Qatar Sports Investments (QSi). QSi is a sovereign wealth fund managed by the Qatari government. Oil-rich nations, as is well known, invest enormous effort into buying goodwill and legitimacy. Sports “image laundering” is a familiar and particularly effective strategy.
The changes were immediate. The steady, gradual path PSG had followed was replaced by extravagant signings and an attempt to artificially build a “galaxy of stars.” The signings of Blaise Matuidi, Salvatore Sirigu, Maxwell, Kevin Gameiro, and Javier Pastore, all top-tier European football players, marked the start of the revolution. More stars arrived over the years, including the famous striker Zlatan Ibrahimović, team captain Thiago Silva, and coach Carlo Ancelotti.
But nothing compared to the Parisians’ transfer window at the start of the 2017/18 season. Neymar Jr. was signed for a staggering $222,000,000 from Catalan club Barcelona. That sum shattered the transfer record and remains, to this day, the highest amount ever spent on a single player. Another statement signing was Kylian Mbappé, a rising French star who made his first steps at Monaco (known as the ultimate “greenhouse” for developing young players). Mbappé was initially transferred on loan, a deal that became permanent the following season for a fee of 180,000,000.
PSG’s Failed Experiment
The summer of 2021 was historic as well. Paris Saint-Germain completed the transfer of Lionel Messi, a player many consider the greatest of all time. Sergio Ramos, his fierce rival from Real Madrid, also signed with PSG, along with other well-known names like Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi and Italy’s Gianluigi Donnarumma. The latter was signed after an outstanding performance at the most recent Euro tournament, which his national team won.
The club’s controversial transfer policy sparked widespread anger and fueled an enormous wave of hatred toward the much-maligned club. On the domestic front, Paris Saint-Germain achieved remarkable success and became the most established and successful club in the country, dominating Ligue 1 completely. But for Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the Qatari owner, that wasn’t enough. He has always aspired to lead the club he oversees to the summit every fan dreams of: the trophy with the big ears, the UEFA Champions League.
The Club Today
Dreams are one thing, reality is another. PSG has never won a European title and has only reached the Champions League final once. This ongoing failure on the European stage led to a fundamental shift in direction. Last season, Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr. both left the club. They were replaced by young, ambitious players. For the first time in the Qatari era, emphasis was placed on homegrown signings and strengthening ties to France. The famous names gave way to promising talents. So far, the new project has had mixed success, but journalists close to the club say the atmosphere in the locker room signals a real shift. The team’s cohesion, it’s said, has never been stronger. The club’s stars these days are Ousmane Dembélé, who returned to his home country from Barcelona, Achraf Hakimi, Gianluigi Donnarumma, and above all, of course, Kylian Mbappé (ask your kids, they definitely know him).
Club Symbols
Since its founding, Paris Saint-Germain has represented both Paris and the nearby royal town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The club’s crest reflects this dual representation. The blue and red in the logo pay tribute to the Parisian bicolor. White, on the other hand, symbolizes royalty and is associated with Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The official crest features the the Eiffel Tower, the city’s eternal symbol, with the fleur-de-lys at its base, a silhouette of the flower that was the symbol of French royalty until the Revolution.
The most memorable jerseys of the glamorous club have always featured one of the crest’s three colors: red, blue, or white, with the other two colors worked into the design as well. And while we’re on the subject, it’s worth knowing that the club’s first jerseys were made by Daniel Hechter, an acclaimed fashion designer of Jewish-French descent. He’s best known as a revolutionary designer, but he also had a hand in football management. Besides designing France’s national team kit for the 1998 World Cup (which France won), Hechter was one of PSG’s founders and later served as chairman of the board, and then as the club’s president. The modern jersey looks quite different from the iconic original, to the dismay of many fans. Still, Nike, the club’s current kit designer, has chosen to draw inspiration from the iconic jerseys while preserving the club’s color scheme.
Paris Saint-Germain’s official mascot is a Saint Bernard dog. A friendly, harmless animal who has become a crowd favorite at the local stadium. The mascot first appeared in 2010, as part of the celebrations marking the club’s 40th anniversary. Today, you can still spot the cheerful, friendly dog entertaining kids in the stands or taking part in a “warm-up show” as the players prepare for the match. “Ici, c’est Paris” (This is Paris) and “Paris est magique!” (Paris is magical!) are the club’s most recognizable slogans. The anthem, if you’re wondering, is “Allez Paris!”, which over the years became “Allez Paris-Saint-Germain!”
Finally, Paris Saint-Germain’s common nickname is “the Parisians.” Another nickname is “the Red and Blues,” a nod to the club’s main colors. And of course, there’s the common abbreviation: PSG. The abbreviation is mostly used in writing, and the club is sometimes referred to by its initials pronounced as a word in conversation.
Sporting Rivalries
Like any self-respecting football club, the Parisians have built up a fierce rival over the years. The most emotionally charged match in France is “Le Classique,” also known as the “French Clasico” or “French Derby,” between Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique de Marseille. The intense emotions between the two sets of fans require heavy police presence to prevent serious outbreaks of violence. Despite these precautions, mass brawls between rival ultras groups still occur. In football, as in football everywhere, the rivalry extends well beyond the pitch. The derby represents deeper historical and cultural questions, and an underlying struggle between the wealthy north and the south, between the capital and the provinces.
After the Qatari takeover of Paris Saint-Germain, the sporting rivalry eased somewhat. The gap between the two clubs, once relatively even, gave way to a clear lead for the Red and Blues. Even so, off the pitch, the rivalry only grew stronger. Northerners proudly waved their growing list of titles. Southerners, meanwhile, emphasized their club’s authenticity and their resistance to the “big money” that had overshadowed the romance of the game. Local broadcasters add fuel to the fire, amplifying the buzz around Le Classique and raising the profile of the league as a whole.
Facts You (Probably) Didn’t Know About Paris Saint-Germain
The Club’s Uniform Was Inspired by the Symbols of Paris
That said, the Amsterdam football club Ajax had no small influence on the choice of colors. Daniel Hechter, whom we mentioned earlier, was one of many fans captivated by the magic of the great Dutch team led by Cruyff and company. The free-flowing, exciting football was, for him, a lasting source of inspiration. Hechter added a red stripe down the middle of the jersey as a nod to the “Jewish team’s” colors (it turns out Ajax has a familiar nickname too). The design has changed completely in recent years, but history preserves the original color scheme, and retro jerseys are still sold today.
The Rivalry Between Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique de Marseille Grew Over the Years
But in the club’s early days, there were no signs of the coming crisis. In fact, PSG’s management once gave up a chance at the league title to avoid angering their southern neighbors. This happened after the television giant Canal+ took over the club in 1991. Paris Saint-Germain armed itself with exceptional players and battled Marseille for the league title, under the leadership of legendary Portuguese striker Artur Jorge. Disappointingly, after a fierce competition, it was Marseille that came out on top. The Parisians had to watch their rivals lift the coveted trophy for the fifth year in a row.
But then came a twist in the story: Olympique de Marseille was accused of match-fixing and shady conduct. The title was stripped from the southern club over the serious allegations. Its runner-up, Paris Saint-Germain, was the natural candidate to be crowned champion instead. But surprisingly, despite seven long years without a major title, the club’s management declined the honor. The reason? Canal+ was afraid of upsetting its subscribers in Marseille. In the Champions League, too, the club’s management decided not to take its rival’s place after Marseille was barred from the tournament. As a result, it was Monaco, the modest principality club that also plays in Ligue 1, that received the honor instead.
Ronaldinho? Cavani? Mbappé? For the Club’s Die-Hard Fans, Amara Diané Is the Legendary Hero
Stability breeds stars; great moments breed legends. We all know the current version of PSG, competing on equal footing with Europe’s top clubs. Given that, not many people know that during the 2007/08 season, Paris Saint-Germain struggled badly and stood on the brink of relegation to the second division. After a nightmare season marked by heated clashes between fans and club management and staff, the team faced a decisive match against Sochaux-Montbéliard. The savior was Amara Diané, who scored two goals on a magical night for him. The match ended 2-1 and PSG stayed in the top division. The rest of his career in the sport was fairly modest, but sometimes one great moment is enough for a player to carve his name into the hearts of fans and into the club’s history books.
Stadium: Parc des Princes
Parc des Princes (literally “Park of the Princes”) is the home stadium of the football club Paris Saint-Germain. The stadium’s name comes from the area where it’s located, a wooded park once used by the royal family before the Revolution. Unlike the club that plays there, the stadium itself has a long and rich history. Its cornerstone was laid back in 1897, when it served as the home stadium for the French national football team and the French national rugby team. The stadium’s long relationship with the national team continued until the construction of Stade de France (literally “Stadium of France”), ahead of the 1998 World Cup held in the country.
The famous stadium was designed by architect Roger Taillibert, who also designed the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Parc des Princes is known for its 50 concrete pillars, which meet to form a ring-shaped roof, a roof so closely associated with the venue that it has become one of the club’s recognized symbols.
While the national stadium is the largest in France, with a massive capacity of 81,338 seats, “Parc des Princes” is much more modest in size. In fact, the stadiums of Marseille, Olympique Lyonnais, and even Lille are all larger than the capital’s ground, which holds just 47,929 seats. Parc des Princes is located in southwest Paris, in the 16th arrondissement, in a complex that also includes the “Roland Garros” tennis stadium and the multi-purpose Jean-Bouin Stadium (used for rugby, American football, and more).
The stadium has hosted major sporting tournaments, including World Cup matches, rugby events, European cups, the Euros, and the Women’s World Cup. It has also hosted numerous music concerts featuring well-known artists. Michael Jackson, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Metallica, and Coldplay are just a few of the famous names who have performed for enthusiastic French crowds at the stadium.
Shortly before the 2016 Euros, the stadium underwent a major renovation costing 75,000,000 euros. As part of the renovation, the grass was replaced, functional seating was installed, and giant screens were added. Club symbols were integrated throughout the stadium, which became modern and cutting-edge, befitting the demands of the 21st century and PSG’s growing status as an elite club.
Touring Paris Saint-Germain’s Stadium
For football fans, traveling families, and tourists who want a taste of the local scene, there’s a guided stadium tour on offer. As part of efforts to make the site more accessible to visitors, the tour has been significantly expanded. Today, tourists and locals alike can get an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at Paris Saint-Germain.
The standard tour includes a visit to the impressive, renovated stadium and the locker room where players spend time before matches. Participants can get a close look at the players’ benches, peek into the press conference room, and visit the trophy room, the club museum, and the VIP suites. Visitors also get to see the presidential box and, to top it off, the club’s trophy wall. Tours run from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The tour lasts about an hour and is accompanied by an audio guide in several languages, including English, French, Spanish, and Arabic.
Tickets to Paris Saint-Germain Matches
If you want to watch a match at the stadium, keep in mind that ticket prices rise gradually as the match date approaches. The club’s enormous popularity leads to steady price increases, especially ahead of major sporting events. If your heart is set on a decisive late-stage Champions League match, you may sometimes need to part with several hundred euros.
Most tickets belong to season ticket holders. Even so, the club makes a limited number of tickets available for tourists and casual visitors, which you can purchase on this site. For league matches, ticket prices start at around 35 euros for a modest seat behind the goal. For major matches, as mentioned, the price jumps significantly.
Low supply and high demand lead to ticket scalping. Many season ticket holders take advantage of the club’s huge international appeal and sell their tickets to tourists who want them. This drives ticket prices up, creates dynamic price swings, and makes it hard to pin down an exact figure.
Stadium Stands
In the Auteuil stand, ticket availability is usually low, since that’s where the club’s ultras sit. These fans attend matches frequently and rarely miss a game. A less important tournament? Not for the die-hard fan. To them, a match against Barcelona matters just as much as one against Lorraine. While the atmosphere in the ultras’ section is electric and passionate, we recommend that families and casual tourists avoid sitting near them; the atmosphere is tense, the noise is deafening, and the fervent intensity can overshadow the viewing experience.
In the two stands behind the goals, Auteuil and Boulogne, seating is general admission. It’s important to remember this rule applies even though a seat number is printed on the ticket. So if you bought a seat in one of these stands, make sure to arrive early and grab a spot. If you bought a ticket along the sideline, an usher will guide you to the exact seat listed on your ticket. You can use an electronic ticket on your phone or print your ticket in advance. Be sure to bring an ID (preferably a passport, since a driver’s license isn’t accepted as official identification in France).
Getting to Parc des Princes
Parc des Princes sits in southwest Paris, in the 16th arrondissement, built right along Paris’s ring road, the “Périphérique.” Don’t confuse it with the national stadium, Stade de France, which is located in the north of Paris.
Getting to the stadium is very easy: it’s within walking distance of the Porte de Saint-Cloud metro station, on line 9. On match days, ushers are stationed along the routes to the stadium to help you find your stand. If you prefer to navigate on your own, you can use the orientation map printed on your match ticket, which shows detailed directions.
On match days, the metro runs more frequently, both before and after the game, so it’s a good idea to use it to get there and back. Entry to the stadium requires a thorough security check. There’s a souvenir shop at the stadium, and fast food and drinks are available in the stands.
Final Thoughts
We opened this article with the Parisian enigma and some wistful thoughts on the nature of modern football, in an era where money has overtaken emotion and romance has given way to relentless competition. Can anything be done to resist the flood of money into the game? Is there anything wrong with state-backed investment in sports clubs? Paris Saint-Germain’s fans enjoy the fruits of success, but longtime, devoted supporters hope that one day, those massive investments will give way to a more deliberate, gradual process of building a team. More young players, a stronger academy, deeper local roots, and handing the keys to club legend Luis Enrique, who is gradually instilling his philosophy at the club, point to a possible shift. PSG fans will keep hoping that one day this change will blossom into their most cherished dream: winning the Champions League, proving once and for all that you can’t dismiss the “new kid on the block” who dared to demand a place of honor in the hall of fame.
Further Reading
- If you were actually looking for information about the Saint-Germain neighborhood in Paris, you can find it in the article Saint-Germain-des-Prés: From Ancient Monastery to Church of Reason.
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