PSG in Jeopardy: Club Threatens Exit from Iconic Parc des Princes

• PSG threatens to leave Parc des Princes after the stadium is refused to be sold.
• Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo stated that the stadium is not for sale to the club.
• The club is “disappointed and astonished” by the decision.

Paris Saint-Germain, the reigning French football champions, have threatened to leave their nearly 50-year residence at Parc des Princes after local officials refused to sell the facility to the club.

The stadium “is not for sale” and “will not be sold” to PSG, which is controlled by Qatar, according to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on Sunday.
The club was “disappointed and astonished,” according to a club representative, because Paris wished to “turn Paris Saint-Germain and its supporters out of the Parc des Princes.”

“The mayor is forcing PSG to leave its home,” the spokesperson said. “Everyone loses in the position taken by the mayor. PSG is now forced to find alternative options to relocate the club. This is not the outcome the club, nor its supporters, were hoping for.”

Last year, PSG allegedly made a bid to purchase the team. The club has also made the purchase of the stadium in the city’s lush western suburbs a requirement for carrying out 500 million euro worth of modernization and expansion work.

The spokesperson added that PSG’s proposed investment would only be made if they owned the stadium.

“It is regrettable the Mayor is now suddenly foreclosing – definitively – the sale discussions we’ve been having for a long time, with the club now sadly forced to advance alternative options for our home, which is not the outcome the club or our fans were hoping for,” the spokesperson said.

PSG was “no longer welcome” at the Parc des Princes, according to club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who also said they were looking at “other solutions” in November of last year.

“They are pressuring us to leave,” he said, highlighting that the Qataris had “invested 80 million euros” before Euro 2016 in a stadium that “is not ours”.

The club has previously made one offer to purchase the stadium, but Hidalgo’s deputy Emmanuel Gregoire claims that it was just for 40 million euros ($43 million).

He made fun of the Argentine player Leandro Paredes, who joined PSG in 2019 for 47 million euros ($50.9m), saying, “It’s cheaper than Paredes.”

Even if the sale is not her “first choice,” the mayor’s office has stated that it is willing to talk about the ground issue.

She continued, “We must assist PSG in its need and ambition to renovate, expand, and modernise the Parc,” noting that “part of the stadium is on the ring road so we cannot dig.”
The former velodrome, which had a 48,000-person capacity when it was built in 1897 and rebuilt in 1972, has been the home of the Parisian club since 1974.

With the Paris City Council, PSG extended their lease in 2013 until 2043. Three years later, they finished a $81.2 million ($75 million) renovation of the stadium.
Since Qatar Sports Investments took ownership in 2011, PSG has been the most successful football team in France, winning the league eight times. Although it has won domestic cup events in France, it has not been able to win the Champions League.

Last year, Paris outlawed showing World Cup games from Qatar on massive screens in open fan zones, citing worries over the tournament’s effects on the environment and the rights of migrant workers.

The allegations have been repeatedly refuted by Qatar.

French President Emmanuel Macron attended the tournament final, which France lost against Argentina on penalties.

Also Read

Lionel Messi is expected to make his PSG debut

Lionel Messi is expected to play for PSG against Angers on Wednesday....