The Parisian Village district in Drancy (Seine-Saint-Denis) has never lived up to its name so well. At the foot of the towers, the jerseys in the glory of Neymar and Mbappé have generously the right of citizenship. Jordy, 21, a youth worker in the city, is not yet wearing the latest model. "I am waiting before buying it because if PSG wins the Champions League, they will undoubtedly come out with one with the golden star", predicts this big beefy, ready for a new trip on Sunday night "on the Champs" in coronation case.
Here, as in all the suburbs of Ile-de-France, we “love” the “dream team” of the capital. In recent years, Paris Saint-Germain has succeeded in expanding its base of supporters in the small and large crowns, in parallel with the development of the PSG Academy football schools in Aubervilliers, Asnières, Evry or Ivry. Just two decades ago, the house, then under the Canal + flag, had recruited at a gold price the child of Trappes, Nicolas Anelka, to already try to conquer the flagstones. But without major victories on the ground, the mayonnaise had not really taken, especially as the racist outbursts in the stands were still relevant.
The Kylian Mbappé symbol
The Qataris, they bet in 2017 on the gifted Bondy made in "9-3", Kylian Mbappé. Good game! “In any good novel, we identify with the hero. In Le Rouge et le Noir by Stendhal, it's Julien Sorel. At PSG, it's Kylian ”, laughs William Longuet, education officer at the city of Drancy and emblematic former coach of the local football club. "He strongly claims what he owes to Seine-Saint-Denis, which further strengthens this link", thanks Stéphane Troussel, president (PS) of the departmental council of Seine-Saint-Denis. And to predict "enthusiasm, mobilization, effervescence" Sunday evening on his land while "moments of sharing, joy, celebration are quite rare lately."
"Kylian Mbappé gives a positive image of the neighborhoods", incenses, for his part, Anaïs, 17, a teenager from the Parisian Village who also applauds the "team spirit" of Presnel Kimpembe, ambassador, him, of the bars of the Val- of Oise (Beaumont-sur-Oise). “With social networks, direct contact has been established,” observes Sidiki, 25, a host wearing a basketball tunic… in the colors of Cleveland, an NBA club.
"The suburb is like the team, plural and mixed"
Thanks to the accelerations of "KMB", the Paris-suburb border is shattered for once. Antoine, 14, thrives in Drancy like his friend Adnane. "But our city is Paris, and our club is Paris", he insists. It must be said that in this area, he is hardly spoiled for choice in the region. "In Paris, unlike other capitals, there is no competition between the club of the poor and the club of the rich as we can see, for example, in Rome with Roma, more popular than Lazio", decrypts football historian Yvan Gastaut.
For the unconditional faithful of the PSG for ages, Stéphane de Freitas, director and inventor of the eloquence competitions on the other side of the periphery, "the suburb is like the team, plural and mixed". "The feeling of belonging is born with the victories", he notes, admiring this "mixture of young people of the soil and planetary stars gathered to offer the spectacle". "Me, I love PSG because it is in the final of the Champions League", admits Amine, 15 years old. "We like the teams that win", confirms Jordy, the host who meets in front of the local low-cost housing "fewer and fewer OM supporters".
Qatar's financial power is a dream
Major influencers of the peripheries, the rappers of Ile-de-France, always quick to honor the PSG in their punchlines or on Twitter, have given the headlines in recent years like Booba, Kaaris. Or Niska and his “freestyle” Matuidi Charo who had inspired the goal celebration of the former Parisian midfielder between 2011 and 2017, Blaise Matuidi. Connections that appeal to commuters. "Footballers are no longer in their bubble, they are now people who are part of forms of sociability, more and more present in cultural life where they will, among other things, appear to rappers", analysis Yvan Gastaut, lecturer at the University of Nice.
The “flashy” dimension of the PSG, with its multimillionaires who do not hide, also makes dream some of the “kids” of the cities having a weakness for all that glitters. "The ostentatious side, the spread of wealth works well", smiles the specialist. According to him, the image also offered by the owners of Qatar, flag bearers of the “rich Arabs” and the living forces of a “Muslim state which gives itself the means to succeed” can also nourish, “indirectly”, a “function identification ”. "This impression of success somewhat crushes the classic, miserable image of immigrant workers," he says.
"Young people do not have the means to afford a place"
Of all the commuters we interviewed, none spontaneously cited the Persian Gulf country. Amine, 15, is rather impressed by "the football fields" that flourish in the homes of some Brazilians. Neymar's hairstyle or XXL portable speaker also makes a lot of noise in neighborhood homes. "But more than the bling-bling side, it is the stylish and cool side of the players who have the banana that the young people appreciate", specifies the big brother Sidiki, who sees in the epic in the Champions League a "very beautiful loophole ”for teens who“ did not go on vacation due to the Covid and canceled settlements ”.
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The Paris-suburbs rapprochement initiated by the round ball still has its limits, embodied by the gentrification of the stands of the Parc des Princes. "If the young people are going to bleed themselves to buy the jersey, they do not have the means to pay for a place", notes Nasser Zenati, head of the youth service of the city of Drancy. And to regret the time, now distant, when invitations poured out to give voice to the Porte d'Auteuil or Saint-Cloud.
