On the sidelines of the inauguration of the PSG Campus, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi reaffirmed his ambition to leave the Parc des Princes, due to being unable to buy it, and announced his ambition to have a new stadium ready within three or four years. A deadline that seems unrealistic.
PSG inaugurated its Campus in Poissy with great fanfare on Thursday under the snow and in the company of many prestigious guests. A spectacular and grandiose inauguration which undoubtedly gave its president even more desire to soon have a larger and more modern stadium.
On the sidelines of the inauguration of the PSG Campus, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi spoke to Rothen's microphone about the stadium issue and reaffirmed that he had every intention of leaving the Parc des Princes , due to lack of agreement with the Paris town hall to buy it back.
“The city leaves us no choice”
“I really like the Park, everyone loves it. If I listen to my heart, we're not leaving. But if I listen to my head… Everyone in Europe has stadiums with 100,000, 80,000, 90,000 seats… We need them, otherwise we are dead. Is it a question of life or death? Yes. Today we are in France, but also in Europe. We play the Champions League every year. If we want to be at the level of other clubs, financially, for our supporters, we need to expand the stadium. Here, it is impossible to buy this stadium, we have no other solution (than leaving). The first one to feel bad about it is me. But the city leaves us no choice”confided the president of PSG.
“We need a stadium ready in 3-4 years”
And when Julien Cazarre reminded him that municipal elections would take place in 2026, with potentially a change of majority which could relaunch the stadium issue, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi cut it short: “I’m going to say something very important. I don't do politics. I don't understand anything about politics. For us, we have a challenge, we need a stadium ready in 3-4 years, that's what we really want. We have no time to lose, otherwise we will be behind other clubs in Europe. We need to make a decision, to build as quickly as possible. »
If Nasser Al-Khelaïfi is in a hurry, the deadline of 3 to 4 years to build a new stadium seems very optimistic, not to say unrealistic. Already because PSG has not yet found its new ground, even if it has several options (the Saint-Cloud racecourse, a site in Montigny-le-Bretonneux, a ground in Poissy). Then, because it will take a lot of patience to convince local residents, environmentalists and other potential opponents of the project.
For the CEO of PSG, it takes at least 8 years to build a stadium
On October 9, in an interview with Le Parisien, PSG general manager Victoriano Melero counted on “at least eight years” to build a new stadium. Much more realistic already.“We are still prospecting, several projects are on the table to accommodate a 60,000-seat stadium. It's complicated, we're not going to hide it. You need a sufficient surface area, there are legislative and environmental constraints… There are not dozens of places, but there are some”he added.
New Minister of Culture and potential future candidate for mayor of Paris, Rachida Dati was present at the inauguration of the PSG Campus on Thursday and gave her opinion on the question of the stadium via “PSG must stay in Paris”. Enough to revive the hypothesis of an agreement with the town hall in 2026, if Anne Hidalgo is not re-elected and is replaced by someone favorable to the sale of the Park?
On X, France Bleu Paris journalist Bruno Salomon highlighted the role played by PSG's American minority shareholder, Arctos, in this stadium issue. “Since their arrival, this group has pushed very (too) hard to leave the Park and build a new project”he tweeted.
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