da fezbet： Everyone’s got to start somewhere and the emergence of PSG as a European force has taken its time.
da dobrowin： Domestically, PSG have won five Ligue 1 titles, nine Coupe de France, a record five Coupe de la Ligue, five Trophée des Champions and one Ligue 2 title.
In international club football, the Parisian side have won one UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and one UEFA Intertoto Cup. PSG are the joint-most successful club in France and one of only two French clubs (with Olympique de Marseille) to win a major European club competition.
The Parc des Princes has been the home stadium of PSG since 1974. PSG shares an intense rivalry with Marseille and contest the most notorious football match in France, known as Le Classique Qatar Sports Investments became the club’s sole shareholder in 2012.
The takeover made PSG the richest club in France and amongst the richest in the world, and that’s why PSG are where they are now. As always, it’s money.
Canal+ took over the club in 1991 and things started to improve almost immediately for the French club. Thanks to the investment of their owners and with successful coaches Artur Jorge and Luis Fernández, an avalanche of trophies followed. PSG were on the move and between 1992 and 1998 they contested two UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup finals – winning in 1996 – reached the UEFA Champions League semi-finals once and twice advanced to the same stage of the UEFA Cup.
Domestically, they were enjoying as much success as George Weah, Raí, Leonardo and a strong spine of homegrown talent became the pin-up’s of French football.
PSG launched the new millennium by claiming the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup, followed by three French Cups and one League Cup. It wasn’t all plain sailing for PSG at this point though. The early 2000s were tough for PSG, who flirted with relegation on occasion as a combination of high expectations and intense media pressure took their toll.
It was not until the club was purchased by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011, following two years of solid progress, that PSG finally restored a sense of balance. Club legend Leonardo was brought back in a sporting director capacity and oversaw a spending spree that has so far been unprecedented in Ligue 1 history.
Reinforced by new star Zlatan Ibrahimovic and under an outstanding coach in Carlo Ancelotti, Paris warmed up for the 2012–13 season with the aim of winning the club’s first league title since 1994. Zlatan’s 30-goal haul almost single-handedly led the capital side to the crown. Now led by Laurent Blanc, who succeeded Ancelotti, PSG won the Trophée des Champions.
And for the first time in the club’s history, Les Parisians defended the title and secured a first league and domestic cup double thanks to Edinson Cavani’s brace in the 2014 Coupe de la Ligue Final win over Lyon. Paris then left their mark on French football in the 2014–15 season by claiming an unprecedented domestic quadruple: the Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the Coupe de la Ligue and the Trophée des Champions.
Financially, PSG haven’t had it all their own way. At incorporation, a group of local businessman funded the club, but they have had economic difficulties, as have most clubs. Canal+ became owners in 1991 and then became majority shareholders in 1997 and sole shareholder in 2005.
From 1991 to 1998, PSG maintained healthy finances due to the increased number of fans attending games and TV rights. Qatar Sports Investments bought the club for about 50 million euros which was said to have covered all kinds of debts in the process. QSI became sole shareholder in 2012.
The club is now ranked 12th richest football club in the world with an estimated value of $63 million. In terms of revenue they sit fourth with 480.8 million euros.
It’s been a shorter journey than for most teams, but not one without hiccups. With financial muscle and yearly appearances in the Champions League, it won’t be long before the name of PSG sits up there with the very best Europe has to offer.
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