Three Paris FC players appear in the list of the French team unveiled Thursday by Laurent Bonadei to face Jamaica and Switzerland. Alongside Clara Matéo (29 selections), who had not been called up since December 2023 and had therefore missed the Olympics, full-back Lou Bogaert (20 years old) and midfielder Margaux Le Mouël (23 years old) were selected for the first time. This shows that the model developed by Paris FC, based on the training and development of young French women – Bogaert and Le Mouël arrived from Lille and Guingamp in 2022 – is working well.
Behind Lyon and PSG, the PFC, which absorbed Juvisy in 2017, has established itself as the 3rd force in women’s football in France. Third for the last three seasons, Sandrine Soubeyrand’s team is getting closer and closer to the leading duo. But there was always a little something missing to beat them in the last few matches. In the Champions League, after reaching the group stage last season, the step was far too high this year against Manchester City (5-0 and 3-0 defeats).
But the future takeover of Paris FC by the Arnault family (at the head of the LVMH group, also owner of Parisien-Aujourd’hui in France) and Red Bull should definitely benefit the women. “From the start of the negotiations, we realized that we shared a lot of common values, they are very sensitive to the issues of diversity like us,” explains president Pierre Ferracci.
The LVMH group is indeed very attached to female representation, particularly through the ELLESVMH program. For its part, Red Bull has taken the time to structure its women’s sections around training, whether in Leipzig, Salzburg and Sao Paulo. Having qualified for the Champions League for three years, will the women’s team be able to get closer economically and sportingly to PSG and Lyon thanks to its new resources? Compared to the men’s team, currently in L2 and therefore starting from much further, the path to reach the summits should be shorter for the women.
This summer, several players had been the target of big European clubs, with offers sometimes with a double salary, which had somewhat destabilized the locker room. If Louna Ribadeira has already signed at Chelsea (but remains on loan to PFC this season), other girls will arrive at the end of their contract. But from now on, Paris FC will be able to present other arguments to keep them while having more latitude to recruit.
“We have the means to challenge the leadership of Paris, but perhaps not that of Lyon”
But as with the L2 team, management does not intend to change everything in the short term and will continue to focus on training.
“With the women, we are always careful to strengthen the team during the season,” explains Pierre Ferracci. I think we have already strengthened it this summer and I am convinced that the potential of the team is greater than that of last year when we lost twice on penalties against PSG in the Coupe de France and in the playoffs. We have the means to challenge the leadership of Paris, but perhaps not that of Lyon. I have confidence in the current squad, which does not mean that there will not be one or two arrivals during the season. But for the moment, we are not in this logic. Our wish is to succeed in the first legs. For now, they are off to a good start. (3 wins out of 4) despite the accident in Saint-Étienne. This match against Lyon will allow us to calibrate ourselves well. »
