The sentence was dropped to journalists on Thursday, February 8, by the president of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, on the sidelines of the congress of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA): “It’s is over now, we want to move from the Parc des Princes. »
Two days ago, the Paris Council had reaffirmed the “belonging” of the Porte de Saint-Cloud enclosure “to the heritage of the City”, once again refusing the sale of the stadium to the football club, owned since 2011 from the Qatar Sports Investement (QSI) fund, with which negotiations have been at a standstill for more than a year.
Paris City Hall and PSG have had tumultuous relations for several years. The Qatari owners had a hard time with the town hall’s refusal to install a fan zone in the capital during the 2022 World Cup organized in the emirate.
At the beginning of January 2024, the deputy mayors of Paris Emmanuel Grégoire and Pierre Rabadan called on PSG to resume dialogue, saying they wanted to give it “guarantees” on a very long-term rental. But Nasser Al-Khelaïfi’s words this Thursday seem to push the positions of the two parties even further apart.
“We wasted years trying to buy the Park”
“We have wanted from the start for PSG to stay at the Parc des Princes”, but “we do not wish to cede Parisian heritage”, reiterated, Tuesday February 6, the deputy for sport, Pierre Rabadan, recalling that the Town Hall had passed “four years on an extension project” between 2018 and 2022.
PSG, engaged until the end of 2043 in a thirty-year long lease with the Town Hall, owner, considers the acquisition of the stadium essential to carry out its expansion project to 60,000 seats – compared to around 48,000 seats currently.
“It’s too easy to say now that the stadium is no longer for sale. We know what we want, we wasted years wanting to buy the Park,” explained the Qatari leader on Thursday. Paris Saint-Germain, created in 1970, has played at the Parc des Princes since 1974. PSG currently rents the stadium for 2 million euros per year.
QSI said it was ready to undertake major expansion work, estimated at €500 million, but on the sole condition of becoming the owner of the premises. A choice that Paris City Hall therefore refuses. PSG considered several avenues, including a takeover of the Stade de France, before withdrawing its candidacy. The club is also studying the option of building another stadium in the Paris region.
The sale of the Parc des Princes has been a sensitive issue since the arrival of QSI at the head of the club. Nasser Al-Khelaïfi already proposed to the mayor at the time, Bertrand Delanoë, to raze the stadium to build a new one, at the expense of QSI. The councilor then pronounced a categorical refusal. However, during her election to Paris City Hall in 2014, Anne Hidalgo was not open to a sale of the Parc des Princes to PSG.
