Paris FC changes flag. The club currently based in the 13th arrondissement of the capital formalized, on Wednesday November 20, its takeover by the Arnault family and the Red Bull group. A major change for the club led by Pierre Ferracci since 2012, which is aiming for a rapid rise in Ligue 1 to establish itself over time in the first division and allow Paris to finally find two clubs in the elite. A revolution in shareholding which raises several questions.
What new shareholding for Paris FC?
Unlike the Kingdom of Bahrain and Allirajah Subaskaran, an Anglo-Sri Lankan entrepreneur, who arrived respectively in 2020 and 2021 as minority shareholders (20% of the shares for the Gulf State and 10% for the company BRI Sports Holding of the billionaire owner of Lycamobile), the Arnault family will get their hands on 52% of the club’s capital and thus become the majority and therefore decision-maker, via its holding company Agache. The owners of the powerful LVMH group, currently valued at more than 320 billion euros, arrive with the Red Bull group, which notably owns the clubs of Leipzig and Salzburg, currently in the Champions League, and which will only be a minority shareholder , up to 11%.
Anxious to keep a voice in the club in which he joined as an administrator in 2006 before becoming president six years later, Pierre Ferracci will retain 30% of the club which he will transfer to the new majority shareholders in the near future. 2027. BRI Sports Holdings, representing Lycamobile, already a minority shareholder of PFC, will retain 7% of the club’s shares. Enough to ensure continuity with the current project of the leading Ligue 2 club.
What ambitions for this new team?
In the short term, Paris FC must return to Ligue 1 and as quickly as possible, in order to accelerate its development. Even before the arrival of its new investors, the PFC, the biggest budget in Ligue 2 according to the specialized site Sportune, invested this summer in the transfer market with in particular the arrivals of Jean-Philippe Krasso, an Ivorian international who had played four Champions League matches the previous season, and Maxime Lopez, the former darling of Olympique de Marseille. This seems to be paying off with a first place after 13 matches. “Even before our arrival, the objective was to move up to Ligue 1 in the next two years. Of course we would prefer that he move up this year”slips Antoine Arnault to AFP.
The future new strong man of the PFC did not wish to reveal the amount of his family’s investment in the club in the coming years, specifying all the same that he would be “consequent” for a club whose budget this season is around 30 million euros. In the event of a rise, the objective will first be to maintain its place in the elite before being able to dream of competing with PSG. The fact remains that the return of a Parisian derby (which has not happened since 1990), even if it could be unbalanced initially, would serve to boost Paris FC, both on a sporting and marketing level. In the long term, the current resident of Ligue 2 dreams of playing in the Champions League, an achievable goal as shown by the example of RC Lens, who came back in 2020 and qualified for the C1 only two seasons later.
“We want to do things gradually, without skipping steps, that’s very important, because incantations never work very well in football”underlined the son of Bernard Arnault. If it cannot dream of the title straight away in Ligue 1, the Parisian club can nevertheless aim for a first division title, in women’s football. Third force in the championship and on the podium in each of the last three seasons, the club which merged with Jusivy, six times winner of D1, in 2017 is getting closer year by year to the two ogres that are PSG and OL .
What project to develop the club?
In an interview given to L’Equipe in mid-September, Pierre Ferracci admitted that he wanted to sell to investors “who respect the DNA of Paris FC and its popular roots, who rely heavily on training […] with a significant effort on women’s football”. The roadmap is clear and the shares kept by the current president of the club underline this desire for continuity. “We are well aware that in the first years we will have to invest and that the investment will be significant and therefore by definition not profitablesaid Antoine Arnault to AFP. But the idea is really to achieve a form of economic balance and to promote the club, to develop it so that it is a profitable business.”
The presence of the Red Bull group can reassure the desire to develop training, as it has become a trademark of the clubs owned by the energy drink company. Antoine Arnault also expressed, on Wednesday, his ambition to see “5, 6, 7 why not 8 players from the training center, play in the first team”.
In the press release announcing the exclusive negotiations between the parties, it was specified that “Red Bull will mainly intervene in the sporting dimension in an advisory role, whether this involves strengthening the detection of young talents capable of joining the training center or targeting the best profiles capable of strengthening the competitiveness of the first teams men and women.” The arrival of Jürgen Klopp, from Liverpool, as director of the firm’s football activities, is also cause for enthusiasm, even if some are wary of “trading”, this tendency to bring out talented young players for the resell at a high price and shake up its squad every season.
Which stadium for Paris FC?
This is the thorny issue that the new shareholders will inherit. For several years, Pierre Ferracci has repeatedly repeated his wish to leave Charléty, which is dilapidated and not very exciting for spectators with its athletics track which moves the field away from the stands. A desire all the more reinforced as the state of the pitch has forced the club several times to have to relocate its home matches.
The club dreams of Jean-Bouin, but no agreement has yet been reached with Stade Français, current holder of the municipal concession. Several problems arise in cohabitation, mainly those of the timetable and the necessary change from the synthetic lawn to hybrid grass. The enclosure located a stone’s throw from the Parc des Princes, the question of maintaining order and managing the flow of supporters on match days will arise if PFC and PSG were to play on the same day. Unless the Qatari leaders carry out their threat to leave the Park, leaving a boulevard for the establishment of Paris FC Porte d’Auteuil.
