Paris doesn’t love football. Even though it is the city where Jules Rimet, creator of the World Cup, grew up and trained and the headquarters of L’Equipe, from whose writing the European Cup was launched, the Parisian fetén considers it an uneducated provincial evasion. Not long ago it was very strange when Bernard Pivot, a famous cultural figure with a book program on public television, expressed his affection for this sport.
The history of Parisian football is one of many attempts that have fallen by the wayside: Gallia, Stade de Paris, Cerque Athletique de Paris, Stade Français, Racing de Paris, Matra Racing. Only Red Star can exhibit a long pedigree, as it was founded by Jules Rimet in 1897, but today it plays in Tercera, where its anti-establishment fans are happy. Its field is in the working-class suburb of Saint-Ouen, two stands are named after two former players shot by the Nazis for fighting in the Resistance, in ’68 their fans took over the headquarters of the Federation and their favorite songs are Bella Ciao and another race: Flic, arbitre ou militaire, who is not ferait for a salary, Translatable as “Police, referee or soldier, not everything works to get a salary.”
Paris Saint-Germain does not have deep roots. It was born in 1970 from the merger between Paris FC and Stade de Saint-Germain and does not depend on a social base nor does it have support in the country (it turned out to be the most detested, according to a survey by L’Equipe)but rather responds to the whim of a sheikh, the famous Al-Khelaifi.
Racing de Paris was once the strongest hope. In the 1930s he instituted an annual friendly against Arsenal, being the first French team to take the plane. He remained strong until he was sixty, when debts sank him. In 1982, the super-millionaire Jean-Luc Lagardère bought it, willing to relaunch it. There were great signings: Majder, Littbarski, Luis Fernández, Francescoli… He changed the name to Matra Racing, advertising his flagship company. He didn’t achieve what he wanted, he got bored and left. Today Racing vegetates in the basements of French football.
In the nineties, Canal+ France bought PSG to strengthen football in the capital and thus create a triangle with Bordeaux and Marseille that would improve revenue from paid broadcasts. It didn’t work either. The next thing was the Qatar operation, in 2011, which has turned PSG into something like a foreign graft in the city.
Now comes the acquisition of Paris FC by Bernard Arnault, owner of LVMH, the largest luxury goods group, with Louis Vuitton as its star product. Forbes lists him as the richest man in the world. Paris FC, now in Ligue 2 and with the modest Charléty stadium, was part of the creation of PSG, but split. Arnault takes 55% and Red Bull 15%, while signing Jürgen Klopp as football director of the entire group, which includes Leipzig, Salzburg (origin of everything), Bragantino, Red Bull New York and even Omiya Ardija, in the third Japanese, plus a vague connection with Liverpool. A framework to distribute expenses and create a large space in which to facilitate the growth of its footballers.
Little is still known about the new project, which will possibly be called RB Paris. It is not known if he intends to build a new stadium or share the Parc des Princes with PSG, but the first impression is one of credibility. Due to the association with Red Bull and its way of doing things until now, it is ruled out that it is a new model of impatient accumulation of stars, like Matra Racing or PSG. We are thinking more about a sensible project, like what François Pinault is doing in Rennes.
The first thing will be to promote it to Ligue 1. Only then will there be a derby in Paris again, something that has been missing for decades. Another thing is that it serves to get the mass of the Parisian population into football. You never know. Times change…
