► An incredible opportunity for French football
Jean-Baptiste Guegansports geopolitologist, football specialist
For French football, I almost want to say that it is miraculous. It is a new player who will challenge Paris Saint-Germain and therefore add competitive intensity. This will make it possible to have, in the elite, a second club in the capital. Something which did not exist in France, unlike the other major European championships, which implies that there will be meetings at the top.
These posters will be sellers for our championship. Thus, we can imagine in the short term a more intense battle for the European cups and therefore a higher overall level. It has long been said that there were two French championships, one with PSG and the other with all the other clubs. The presence of a rival club is good for television rights, a real thorn in the side of our football.
When the Qataris came to the helm of PSG, it was considered that this could disrupt the player market, with footballers bought too expensively and impossible to resell. But when we take a real look at PSG since 2011, it’s ten French championship titles, a Champions League final, two semi-finals, stars that we would never have had in France otherwise, so it’s is rather positive in terms of impact, both for Qatar and for France.
Where there will be a difference with Paris FC is the desire of the Ligue 2 club to maintain the DNA put in place by Pierre Ferracci (current owner of the club and future minority shareholder until 2027, Editor’s note). Around Red Bull’s expertise (another future shareholder of Paris FC)we will not be on a model which will be based on the purchase of big stars but on a long-term training project. The Austrian brand will be the footballing guarantor, and the former Liverpool coach, Jürgen Klopp, who became global director of football at Red Bull, will contribute to the construction of a club which wants to be long-term, as he has done. often done where he has been before.
We are far from incomprehensible projects like that of John Textor (American owner of Olympique Lyonnais) or others who do it for political reasons, like Russian billionaire Dmitri Rybolovlev (owner of AS Monaco). There, it can be a project which aims to be reasonable, built over time, with a family which has incredible political connections and which, for five years now, has invested massively in sports sponsorship.
Furthermore, this investment takes place in the leading pool of footballers in Europe, the Île-de-France region. This will boost the Ile-de-France football ecosystem. Paris FC, like PSG, is identified. There is the name of the capital and the Eiffel Tower on the logo. When we see what the LVMH group has received in dividends from its investment around Paris 2024, it has proven that it is capable of doing what Qatar is doing, but better.
► A boon for the Arnault family
Pierre Rondeausports economist
Everything will depend on what the Arnault family will do with it. It is first and foremost a windfall effect for it: French football is in great financial difficulty, its economy is in bad shape, television rights have fallen sharply, the change of broadcaster has made its image invisible, audiences are in distress, the sponsors grumble.
The owners are therefore ready to give up their jewel for little cost and sell off the professional clubs. The Arnault family jumped at the opportunity to take over a club, leader of Ligue 2, renowned and above all bearing the Eiffel Tower on its logo, thus conveying an international brand image. As a rational investor, it will therefore first seek to make its investment profitable and not spend lavishly for geopolitical reasons, as Qatar was able to do previously with PSG.
I would be very surprised if the club spent more than 100 million euros next season if it were to move up to the first division. You must first build and make your investment grow. Especially since, at this stage, there is no certainty about the project or the result. François-Henri Pinault did not make Stade Rennes a competitor to PSG, for example, despite its financial means. And the Matra Racing project, in the 1980s-1990s, with Lagardère, ended in a flop.
To grow Paris FC, we must also build public loyalty, create an identity against the ogre Paris Saint-Germain and exist in Île-de-France with this competition. Today, Paris FC is not worth much, and its Charléty stadium is a foil. It will take time and hope before imagining a second big club in Paris.
Looking ahead a little, we can very well imagine that, with the exit clause in 2026 from the broadcaster DAZN, a new call for tenders for television rights will take place at the very moment when Paris FC will appear as a giant competitor to PSG , with superstars. From then on, perhaps TV rights could increase and, through trickle-down effect, have an effect on French football. But we can’t declare victory right away. This assumes that Paris FC presents itself with this status from 2026, with superstars capable of making Ligue 1 take off.
However, as it stands, who would want to come to Paris FC, if not for a salary higher than the market price? Who would agree to sign for a new club with no history, no fan base, no track record, in the 13th arrondissement, between the ring road and a cemetery? Paris FC should not try for bling-bling and stars, or else it will get lost. It should focus on development and training, with the help of Red Bull, the other shareholder. And position itself as anti-PSG, since it presents itself as its main rival.
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