Even a date can spark heated debate. August 12 is the one retained by PSG as the official birth. It corresponds to the recognition in writing by the Police Prefecture of the change of name from “Paris Football Club” to “Paris Saint-Germain Football Club”. But this single date cannot summarize the road traveled by the founders of this fiftieth anniversary club. May 27, June 4, June 17, July 31, August 27 ... So many appointments in 1970 which could be, and are even for some, the "real" days of the birth of PSG.
This is not the point. One thing is certain: 1970 saw the foundations of the club being built, at the very moment when its future stadium, the Parc des Princes, saw its own destroyed and rebuilt. The demolition and reconstruction of the Parisian city wall, designed by the architect Roger Taillibert, who died in October 2019, began in 1967. An event that marks the start of a “political decision”. In the corridors of the French Football Federation (FFF) or the town hall of Paris, the desire to see a great club evolve in this new Parc des Princes grows day after day.
"Count only on yourself and on the love of Parisians"
"We must remedy it as quickly as possible", publicly launches Jacques Georges, boss of the FFF in 1968. The political momentum succeeds the popular momentum, on an original idea of ... Santiago Bernabeu, president of Real Madrid. During a discussion with Pierre-Etienne Guyot, Fernand Sastre, Guy Crescent, Jacques Goddet and Jacques Ferran, members of the committee responsible for setting up a club in Paris, the Spanish leader expresses himself clearly: “Only count on you and on love of Parisians. They are the only ones who can overcome all obstacles. "
After a successful popular referendum at the beginning of 1969, a membership campaign, on the Spanish model of "socios" (associates), saw the light of day thanks to the media assistance notably embodied by the journalist Pierre Bellemare at the branch of Europe 1. Ten thousand, then twenty thousand members undertake to "finance" the beginnings. Strong support from the Parisian people, accompanied by stars like Jean-Paul Belmondo or Enrico Macias, which legitimizes the creation of this Parisian club ready to compete in the future with the great Saint-Etienne, Nantes or Marseille.
It remains to find a team and facilities. And that's where the merger comes into play. The Stade Saint-Germanois is targeted to allow the Paris Football Club to start its "life" at the second national level. The time of the necessary administrative exchanges, the Paris Saint-Germain Football Club was born in the summer of 1970. Two twists followed: a rapid sporting success in 1971 with Jean-Claude Bras or Jean Djorkaeff and an eventful divorce in 1972 under pressure from the Paris city hall for nominal reasons. This marks the separation between Paris Football Club on one side and Paris Saint-Germain Football Club on the other.
VIDEO. Presentation of Paris Saint-Germain in 1971
The latter is reborn with a quasi-amateur status in the third division. Before many events: the takeover in 1973 by the couturier Daniel Hechter, the rise in D1 in 1974, the arrival of President Francis Borelli in 1978, the first titles of the 1980s, the Canal + era from 1991 to propel Paris on the map of European football, with notably a victory in the Cups Cup, the eventful passage of the American shareholders of Colony Capital from 2006 to 2011 and, finally, the arrival of Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) since.
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Today, PSG looks the biggest clubs in the world in the eye, sporting and financially. And even if its story is only 50 years old, it is no less beautiful and must not be forgotten.
Happy birthday to Paris Saint-Germain Football Club.
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