Paris FC looks to ensure nomadic existence a thing of the past

Opinion

They are among the closest rivals in European club football. Literally.

Walk across Rue Claude-Farrère and you’ll find that Paris Saint-Germain and Paris Football Club are separated by no more than 20 metres. From a distance, the corner of the Auteuil and Borelli stands of Parc-des-Princes, where PSG plays its home games, seems almost to touch the adjacent stand of Paris FC’s Stade Jean-Bouin, appropriately named Tribune Parc-des-Princes.

The proximity ends there.

In purely sporting terms, this isn’t a rivalry at all. PSG and Paris FC have played just twice — both times in 1978, both matches ending in draws. When they finally meet again in January, it’ll be as neighbours who have tended to stay out of each other’s way, pretending the encounter isn’t awkward.

By then, PSG will be at or near the top of Ligue 1. Paris FC, meanwhile, will be trying to consolidate its place in the French top flight, earned through promotion from Ligue 2 in the spring.

Maybe it’s because the two clubs used to be one club — a brief experiment by City Council in the early 1970s — that they seem so intertwined. In reality, while PSG was representing the capital from its posh arena in the 16th arrondissement, Paris FC was putting in its 90 minutes wherever it could find a pitch: in the 20th, the 12th, the 13th, the northwest suburbs and even Troyes — 180 kilometres to the southeast.

Over the course of its travels, it dropped divisions and lost and regained its professional status. It also developed an identity.

Its suburban exile put it in touch with the vibrant, grassroots football of the banlieues, home to more than 300,000 registered players. Pierre Ferracci, club president since 2012, has mused that the Paris FC academy might one day resemble Barcelona’s famed La Masia. Antoine Arnault, whose family bought a majority stake in the club last November, says he hopes the team will one day include as many as eight players brought up through the system.

In last week’s friendly against Nantes, there were two. It’s a start.

A shorter-term goal is ensuring the club’s nomadic existence is a thing of the past. To that end, Arnault has financed the acquisitions of Reims left-back Nhoa Sangui, Nantes winger Moses Simon, St. Gallen forward Willem Geubbels and Porto defender Otávio — the latter for a club-record 17 million euros.

Ex-PSG and current Eintracht Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp is expected to sign in the coming days, and there could also be an audacious swoop for RB Leipzig midfielder Amadou Haidara, according to L’Equipe.

If this isn’t the financial behaviour of a club that averaged barely 4,000 fans per game as recently as two years ago, it’s because the Arnaults happen to be the wealthiest family in France.

As French football’s nouveau riche, you’d think Paris FC would’ve sacrificed the urban character it cultivated while roaming the hardscrabble stadiums of the outskirts. It didn’t. If anything, it broadened its “Parisianness.”

In addition to Paris FC, the Arnaults own Louis Vuitton, Moët, Hennessy and the Château d’Yquem winery, and they have stakes in Dior, Givenchy and Sephora, among other luxury brands. The club’s roots may be in the suburbs, but its branches are manicured on the Champ-Élysées.

For now, it’ll no doubt play up its hardscrabble history, if for nothing else than to manage expectations. Sunday’s season opener at Angers (10:15 a.m. CT, FuboTV) will be the perfect, understated reintroduction to Ligue 1.

Next weekend’s trip to Marseille will be a tougher test, but after that a run of Metz, Brest, Strasbourg, Nice and Lorient should show Paris FC where it stands ahead of the international break.

At some point, maybe five or six years down the road, a serious challenge to PSG may be mounted.

In the meantime, a reintroduction to the next-door neighbour will be sufficient. It’s high time these closest of rivals had a rivalry.

jerradpeters@gmail.com

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