PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN FC

'Paris Saint-Germain Football Club', or 'PSG', is a French football club based in Paris. The club's stadium is the Parc des Princes.

Contents

Colors and logo

History

Daniel Hechter era (1973-1978)

Francis Borelli era (1978-1991)

Canal + era (1991-2006)

Ownership

Classic Matches

See also

2006-07 Season

Hapoel Tel Aviv Incident

2007-08 Season

Team honours

See also

Current squad

'Transfers 2007-2008'

Notable former players

Former Managers

References

External links

Colors and logo

The Stade Saint-Germain evolved mainly in white until 1970, ^[1] also, after fusion with the PFC, the club adopts the red and blue colors of Paris associated with the white of Saint-Germain. The first shirt of the PSG in 1970 is red with a white short and blue socks.^[2] The white and blue colors are recalled to the collar and the wrists. The logo of the club is placed on the heart. In 1970-1971 the logo of the equipment supplier (Le Coq Sportif) is generally not visible (depends of the shirts) while the following season, the logo of the equipment supplier is always visible. Another evolution compared to the shirt of the previous season, the collar is from now on out of V and uniformly blue. In the same way, the wrists are only blue. The white shorts and blue bottoms remain unchanged.



The dressmaker Daniel Hechter enters the club in May 1973 and draws a shirt which becomes a strong symbol of the club. He is composed of a red central vertical bar framed by white edgings, the remainder of the shirt being blue. This shirt claimed “historical” is raised as of the season 1973-1974 in Division 2. ^[3] The tone of the red and blue evolved, and the dimension of the red central band also. This shirt is always of use today, but he knew a number of attempts at modifications, all rejected by the supporters. A reversed version with dominant red with central vertical bar blue, was of use as second shirt at the end of the years 1970.
　
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Francis Borelli, successor of Daniel Hechter, was the first to try to replace the shirt of Hechter by a white shirt decorated of two fine red and blue bands.^[4] Initially second shirt, this white unit was promoted first shirt in 1981, the shirt of Hechter being in the same time relegated to the row of second shirt. Graphic evolution in 1990, with stylized an Eiffel Tower replacing the two bars red and blue. This shirt remains of use two seasons and ensures the transition between the Borelli era and the Canal + era. In 1992-1993, the club adopts a white shirt with keys of blue on the shoulders.
　
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The white is abandoned in 1993 with a shirt with red and blue dominant and a central red vertical bar which is geared down on the sides. Called “the cover” by the supporters, this shirt is quickly replaced since 1994 by a counterpart of the shirt of Hechter. The collar knows variations, but the colors remain identical until 2000. On this date, blue becomes navy blue and the white edgings disappear, causing the anger of the supporters.^[5] Being unaware of the requests of its supporters, the club still modifies the shirt in 2001 by reducing the width of the red bar which is shifted on the left. In 2002, the white edgings make their reappearances around the red band still reduced and placed on the left. This shirt is keeped three seasons. In 2005, return to the “historical” shirt, to the great joy of the supporters. In 2006, the red central band is reduced.
The second shirt was mainly white before 1981 then after 1993, between these two dates, the “historical” shirt was used. To note the use of a gray and white shirt (1999-2000) then of a crimson shirt (since 2007) as second kit.
Le Coq Sportif remains the equipment supplier of the PSG from 1970 to 1975, then Adidas takes over for the season 1975-76, before a return of Le Coq Sportif in 1976-1977. Pony equips the PSG in 1977-78, but Le Coq Sportif recovers the contract of the PSG from 1978 to 1986. Adidas then becomes the equipment supplier of the club until 1989, date of the signature with Nike. ^[6]

History

The club was founded in August 1970 by the fusion of Paris FC and Stade Saint-Germain (in fact, one should state 1904, because Stade Saint-Germain was founded that year). Gathering funds from nearly 20,000 subscribers, the creation of Paris FC marked the reappearance of a major club in Paris after the demise of R.C. Paris, Red Star and Stade Français (among others).
The union of F.C. Paris and Stade Saint-Germain was motivated by the need to find players, structures, and a place in a higher division, and it resulted in the creation of Paris Saint-Germain Football Club. The new club played in the Nationale (second) division for the 1970–71 season. The club won the division and was promoted to the top division in their first season.
After finishing 16th in the 1971–72 season and under pressure from the Paris City Council to remove the reference to Saint-Germain, the club split in May. The professional part of the club joined C.A. Montreuil and remained in the top division as Paris FC, the amateur part of the club continued in the third division as amateur side Paris Saint-Germain.
PSG was promoted to D2 in 1972–73, as champions following the disqualification of US Le Petit-Quevilly. The following season the club returned to professional status and finished second in the league, winning promotion to the top division in a play-off with Valenciennes. In a pleasing symmetry for PSG supporters, Paris FC was relegated in that season and PSG would henceforth always play at the newly rebuilt Parc des Princes, once the ground of Paris FC.

Daniel Hechter era (1973-1978)

By making its return among the elite (The club has remained in the top division since 1974), the PSG abandons its amateur status of two years earlier. Among the players of the time, one finds Jean-Pierre Dogliani, Mustapha Dahleb and François M'Pelé, and among the trainers, Velibor Vasović and Jean-Michel Larqué. Daniel Hechter was responsible for the design of the “historical” club shirt. On November 4th 1975, the current training center, the Camp des Loges was inagurated. Pierre Alonzo took the direction of it. The Tournoi de Paris also finds life again in 1975, until its dissapereance in 1993.
The presidency of Daniel Hechter ended following the scandal of double ticketing of the Parc des Princes in January 1978.

Francis Borelli era (1978-1991)

Francis Borelli takes over for 13 seasons. Under his control, the PSG gains its first major trophies: two Coupe de France (1982, 1983) and the championship of France 1985–86.

The most notable players of this period are Carlos Bianchi, Dominique Baratelli, Luis Fernandez, Ivica Surjak, Dominique Bathenay and Dominique Rocheteau then Safet Susic, Joël Bats, and Gabriel Calderon. George Peyroche, Gérard Houllier, Lucien Leduc and Tomislav Ivic were the principal trainers of the Borelli era.

Canal + era (1991-2006)

In 1991, Borelli is forced to pass the relay to Canal+ which invests in the PSG in order to compete with Olympique de Marseille, starting the intense rivalry. After three years, the club started some wonderful years winning the French Championship in 1994. The club was specially effective in Europe, winning the defunct UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1995-1996, also reaching the following year’s final only to lose to Barcelona FC.
During the Canal + period, PSG was very effective in local cups as well, winning the Coupe de France in 1993, 1995, 1998, 2004, and 2006. In addition, PSG won two Coupe de la Ligue (1995 and 1998).
Several players were the foundations of the PSG success, such as Bernard Lama, Alain Roche, Ricardo Gomes, Valdo, David Ginola, George Weah, Raí, Youri Djorkaeff, and coaches such as Artur Jorge and Luis Fernandez.

This prize list could have been expanded by the title of champion of France in 1993 following the OM’s descend to second division. The League allotted the title to PSG but Canal + refused it. The TV chain feared the reactions of its subscribers in Province, and Canal+ even threatened to withdraw from football completely if the title was allocated to PSG. The “higher interests of Canal+” were before those of the PSG. The League and the Federation accepted and the title of 1993 remained “not allotted”. Canal + even refused PSG to dispute the UEFA Champions League after the exclusion of OM by the UEFA.^[7]
The takeover of the club by Canal+ is gradually carried out. Starting in 1991, Canal+ started gaining shares of the club, but it wasn’t until 1997 that the TV channel started to own the majority of the shares. After June 2001, Canal+ obtained another 34% of the shares, and in August 2005 they obtained the other 2% held by Alain Cayzac, making the TV Channel PSG’s only shareholder.

In 1998, after seven years with Michel Denisot, Charles Biétry takes over but resigns after six months leaving the club heavily involved in debt, while losing important deals such as the sale of Nicolas Anelka to Arsenal FC, which proceeded to sell the player a year later to Real Madrid for 33.2M€. Since then, PSG is trying to find balance and stability.
In 2000, the PSG was one of the 14 founder members of G14. During this period, the return of Luis Fernandez did not improve the sporting situation in spite of the talent of players such as Ronaldinho, however the debt of the club had been multiplied by two.

The combinaton of Francis Graille-Vahid Halilhodzic is called with to rescue of the club, who is going through a 40% expenditure reduction. In spite of this problem, the PSG had a beautiful 2003-2004 season, winning the Coupe de France and reaching a second place on Ligue 1 which opens the doors of UEFA Champions League 2004-05.
The season 2004-2005 is more difficult. The club was quickly eliminated from the UEFA Champions League 2004-05 and was having a sluggish performance in the championship creating a crisis with the supporters, who were against the policy followed by Canal+. Vahid Halilhodzic is fired on February 8 2005 and replaced by Laurent Fournier, former player of the club. President Francis Graille is also fired by Canal+ on May 2 2005. Pierre Blayau succeeds to him. The project of Francis Graille which consisted in repurchasing shares of the club did not impress Canal+, which reaffirm its desire to remain in charged of PSG, contrary to all the rumors announcing progressive disengagement of the majority shareholder.
In the December 27th, 2005 Laurent Fournier is fired by Pierre Blayau, even though PSG is only one point of the second place of Ligue 1. Guy Lacombe is named to replace it after Paul Le Guen refused the post.
April 11, 2006 Canal + announces the sale of the club to the American investment company (Colony Capital), the French investment company (Butler Capital Partners) and the American investment bank (Morgan Stanley). Canal + yields the club for an amount which is not communicated while taking responsibility for its important debt contracted by the club under its direction. This sale becomes effective June 20 2006. After that, Alain Cayzac replace Pierre Blayau.

Ownership

In 1991 PSG was purchased by the French media company Canal Plus. In April 2006 it was sold to a consortium of investment companies consisting of U.S. firms Morgan Stanley and Colony Capital and Butler Capital Partners of France for a reported sum of 41 million euros ^[8].

Classic Matches

1. The 1974 playoff victory for promotion to Ligue 1 against Valenciennes FC was one of the most dramatic victories in team history. After losing away 2-1, PSG rebounded at the Parc des Princes with an emphatic 4-2 win.
2. PSG faced off against French champions A.S. Saint-Étienne in the 1982 Coupe de France final. Les Verts had already won the league and featured the French legend Michel Platini. A 2-2 draw and no goals in extra time led to penalties, in which former St. Etienne star Dominique Rocheteau gave PSG the winning kick and 6-5 triumph. This was the club's first trophy.
3.The 1983 Coupe de France featured defending champions PSG against FC Nantes. With the match tied 2-2 in the 82nd minute, Nambatingue Toko scored the dramatic winner for Paris, giving the club its second Coupe de France victory.
4. The 1992-93 UEFA Cup run produced two of PSG's most dramatic wins ever. In the Round of 16, PSG tied their first leg match against Anderlecht of Belgium. With PSG losing away 1-0 with only sixteen minutes left, Antoine Kombouaré equalised and advanced the club on goal difference. In the next round, Paris faced off against Spanish giants Real Madrid as heavy underdogs. Madrid crushed the young PSG side 3-1 in Spain, setting up an almost impossible scenario for PSG at the Parc des Princes. George Weah scored in the 33rd minute making it 1-0, and giving Paris some hope. However in the 81st minute, facing elimination and down 3-2 on aggregate, Ginola miraculously scored to tie the aggregate. With the Parc overflowing in excitement, Valdo scored for PSG to make it 3-4. However, Real Madrid rallied back and scored in the 91st minute to stun the Parisians. With the aggregate at 4-4, the match seemed destined for extra time but stoppage time continued well into the 96th minute, setting up one last opportunity for Paris to score. It was Antoine Kombouaré who would once again be the hero, scoring the most unthinkable goal in team history, giving PSG a 4-1 victory and 5-4 aggregate upset.
5. In the UEFA Champions League 1994-95, PSG advanced all the way to the quarterfinals, setting up a pivotal showdown with FC Barcelona. After tieing at the Nou Camp 1-1, Paris shocked the footballing world with a dramatic 2-1 victory (goals by Raí and Guerin). This was the farthest Champions League run in team history.
6. The 1995-96 Cup Winners Cup final will forever be remembered in the hearts of PSG supporters. The match was played on May 8, 1996 in Brussels against Rapid Vienna. Bruno N'Gotty scored the only goal in the 35th minute as PSG won their first major European crown.
7. In the 1996-97 Cup Winners Cup PSG sought to defend their crown, but faced a tough semifinal opponent in Liverpool FC. The opening match in the two-legged tie featured a 3-0 drilling of the English side at the Parc en route to an aggregate victory.
8. The 2006 Coupe de France final was the most recent major victory for PSG. At the Stade de France outside of the capital, PSG faced off against arch rivals Olympique de Marseille in what was billed as the match of the century for French football. Behind the mostly pro-Paris crowd, PSG rallied to a 2-1 victory, including a tremendous and ultimately winning goal by Vikash Dhorasoo (his first goal of the year).

See also

★ Richest football clubs

2006-07 Season

PSG began the 06-07 season poorly, dropping their first match 3-2 to FC Lorient at home. In the 5th week, they lost 3-1 to rivals Olympique de Marseille at the Parc des Princes, putting the team into 15th position in Ligue 1. After a strong rebound including a win in the Coupe de la Ligue and a win against Derry City FC in the UEFA Cup to advance to the group stage, PSG once again began to slide. One of the most disappointing and memorable matches during this run included a loss to Olympique Lyonnais in the Coupe de la Ligue, in which PSG had held a 1-0 lead into the very last moments when Sylvain Wiltord netted two dramatic goals to give the home side the victory. PSG subsequently dropped two matches at home versus RC Lens and FC Girondins de Bordeaux. After another crushing away loss to rivals Olympique Lyonnais, the Parisians faced Greek side Panathinaikos at home in the most important match of the year. Needing a win to qualify for the Round of 32 in the UEFA Cup, the club cruised to a 4-0 victory. This victory eased some pressure off Guy Lacombe, but after struggling versus Troyes and OGC Nice, PSG headed into the winter break in 16th position, needing a good result to save his job.
PSG began the new year with a home match in the 1/32 Coupe de France against Nîmes. The club was able to win 3-0 in front of a half-empty Parc des Princes. On January 15th, Guy Lacombe was sacked as PSG manager and replaced by former Rangers manager, Paul Le Guen, the once midfielder at the club. This followed on from PSG's 2-1 defeat to Valenciennes at the Parc des Princes. Sitting in 17th place in Ligue 1 (1 spot above relegation), PSG was desperate for a league victory. In the Coupe de France, the club from the capital defeated Valenciennes 1-0 on a Cristian Rodriguez goal stemming from a goalkeeping mistake. On February 4, Paris faced off against their rivals Olympique de Marseille at the Stade Velodrome as heavy underdogs. After allowing a goal by Djibril Cissé, Pauleta equalized the score and gave PSG a very important tie. Following the tie in Marseille, PSG defeated AS Monaco 4-2, earning their first Ligue 1 victory since October. Later that week, Paris upset AEK Athens in the first leg, winning 2-0 away. To finish the memorable turn around, PSG glided by Nancy 3-0 (another away victory) to move into 15th place. However, PSG followed these wins up with three consecutive defeats to St. Etienne, Sedan and Auxerre. Paris was also eliminated from the Coupe de France with a 2-1 away loss to Sochaux. After falling into the relegation zone, the Parisians hoped to advance to the UEFA Cup quarterfinals against Portuguese side Benfica. Paris won the first leg at home 2-1, but fell 3-1 away on a penalty to Simão Sabrosa. PSG defeated second placed RC Lens at the Stade Félix-Bollaert 2-1. The Parisians then came back to defeat Le Mans Union Club 72 at the Parc des Princes with a heroic goal by Amara Diané. In Week 33, Paris tied Bordeaux 0-0 at the Chaban-Delmas before destroying FC Nantes by a score of 4-0 in front of the Parisian fans. PSG then defeated Toulouse F.C. away in an improbable upset, which included a brilliant goal by the reborn Jerome Rothen. With "maintien" in Ligue 1 for 2007/08 essentially assured, Paris took seven points from their last four games to finish 15th. Despite his shaky season in which he was dropped from the starting eleven, Portuguese striker Pedro Pauleta scored the most goals in Ligue 1 once again.

Hapoel Tel Aviv Incident

After their second UEFA Cup group match against Hapoel Tel Aviv in Paris on November 24, which they lost 4-2, angry fans (in particular members of the non-recognized independent groups in Boulogne, associated with far-right political ideals which include racism and anti-semitism) used violence as a means of showing their discontent with their team's poor performance. Incensed by the shock defeat, in conjunction with the club's poor domestic league form, and the fact PSG were beaten by an Israeli team, a group of supporters chased and threatened a French fan of Hapoel Tel Aviv. In response, a lone black policeman came to the defense of this threatened Hapoel Tel Aviv fan. The large crowd reportedly shouted many derogatory phrases towards both the policeman and the fan. After firing warning tear gas shells, the policeman fired his gun twice, killing a Paris fan and wounding another. Following this incident, lower stand of Boulogne was closed for two months.

2007-08 Season

Paris Saint Germain opened the 2007-08 season at home against Coupe de France holders FC Sochaux-Montbéliard on August 4.

Team honours

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

★

See also

★ Richest football clubs

Current squad

''As of 1 September 2007.'' Players in 'bold' have international caps.

'Transfers 2007-2008'

'In:'
'Out:'

Notable former players

''For a complete list of former Paris Saint-Germain FC players with a Wikipedia article, see .''
{|
|valign="top" width="20%"|
;France

★ Nicolas Anelka

★ Jocelyn Angloma

★ Dominique Baratelli

★ Dominique Bathenay

★ Joël Bats

★ Daniel Bravo

★ Benoît Cauet

★ José Cobos

★ Patrick Colleter

★ Frédéric Déhu

★ Vikash Dhorasoo

★ Sylvain Distin

★ Jean-Pierre Dogliani

★ Raymond Domenech

★ Jean Djorkaeff

★ Youri Djorkaeff

★ Didier Domi

★ Luis Fernández

★ Laurent Fournier

★ David Ginola

★ Vincent Guérin

★ Jean-Noël Huck

★ Gérard Janvion

★ Philippe Jeannol

★ Antoine Kombouaré

★ Bernard Lama

★ Jean-Michel Larqué

★ Paul Le Guen

★ Jean-Claude Lemoult

★ Lionel Letizi

★ Francis Llacer

★ Patrice Loko

★ Bruno N'Gotty

★ Jose-Karl Pierre-Fanfan

★ Jean-Marc Pilorget
|valign="top" width="20%"|

★ Laurent Robert

★ Alain Roche

★ Dominique Rocheteau

★ Jean-Luc Sassus

★ Daniel Xuereb
;Albania

★ Lorik Cana

★ Edwin Murati
;Algeria

★ Ali Benarbia

★ Mohamed Benhamou

★ Mustapha Dahleb
;Argentina

★ Mauricio Pochettino

★ Gabriel Heinze

★ Juan Pablo Sorín

★ Osvaldo Ardiles

★ Carlos Bianchi

★ Gabriel Calderón

★ Marcelo Gallardo
;Bosnia and Herzegovina

★ Safet Sušić

★ Vedad Ibišević

★ Vahid Halilhodžić
;Brazil

★ Abel Braga

★ Leonardo

★ Raí

★ Ronaldinho

★ Valdo

★ Ricardo Gomes

★ Vampeta

★ Christian
|valign="top" width="20%"|
;Cameroon

★ Modeste M'Bami

★ Patrick Mboma
;Chad

★ Nabatingue Toko
;Congo

★ François M'Pelé
;Croatia

★ Ivica Šurjak

★ Zlatko Vujović
;Germany

★ Christian Wörns
;Guinea

★ Kaba Diawara
;Israel

★ Mordechai Spiegler
;Italy

★ Marco Simone
;Liberia

★ George Weah
;Montenegro

★ Branko Bošković
;Morocco

★ Talal El Karkouri
;Nigeria

★ Jay Jay Okocha

★ Bartholomew Ogbeche

★ Godwin Okpara
;Panama

★ Julio Dely Valdes
|valign="top" width="20%"|
;Portugal

★ Humberto Coelho

★ Hugo Leal

★ Hélder Cristóvão

★ Daniel Kenedy
;Russia

★ Sergei Semak

★ Igor Yanovski
;Senegal

★ Saar Boubacar

★ Aliou Cissé
;Serbia

★ Danijel Ljuboja

★ Ilja Pantelić
;Spain

★ Mikel Arteta

★ Enrique de Lucas
;Tunisia

★ Selim Benachour
|}

Former Managers

{|
|valign="top" width="20%"|

★ Pierre Phelipon (1970-72)

★ Robert Vicot (1972-75)

★ Just Fontaine (1973-76)

★ Velibor Vasović (1976-77 & 1978-79)

★ Jean-Michel Larqué (1977-78)

★ Pierre Alonzo (1976-77 & 1978-80)

★ Georges Peyroche (1979-83 & 1984-85)

★ Lucien Leduc (1983-84)

★ Christian Coste (1984-85)

★ Gérard Houllier (1985-88)

★ Erick Mombaerts (1988)

★ Tomislav Ivić (1988-90)

★ Henri Michel (1990-91)

★ Artur Jorge (1991-94 & 1998-99)

★ Luis Fernandez (1994-96 & 2000-03)

★ Ricardo Gomes (1996-98)

★ Alain Giresse (1998)

★ Philippe Bergeroo (1999-00)

★ Vahid Halilhodžić (2003-05)

★ Laurent Fournier (2005-06)

★ Guy Lacombe (2006-07)

★ Paul Le Guen (2007-?)

References

1. Guides of L'Équipe, Football 1969, p.129
2. Paris Saint-Germain, N°2 de février 1971, offcial photo of the team, p.16
3. France Football, N°1145 du 11 décembre 1973, p.16
4. Borelli's white shirt was first used as a first kit on 6 october 1981 for PSG-US Valenciennes. from match program PSG-Nantes (27 october 1981), p.8
5. Paris Foot, N°3 from novembee-decembee 2001, p.12 : "Frankly, the supporters of the PSG did not digest the new shirt of their team! Last show of bad temper in date, this streamer posted at the time of the PSG-Lyon match: "The shirt does not take""
6. Names of suppliers and evolution of the team's colours based on official photos of the team. 2006-2007 photo is on line at PSG official site (http://www.psg.fr/fr/club/current_team_toplevel/0,,,00.html)and former kits from 1970 to 2006 in match programs.
7. J.F. Pérès et D. Riolo, OM PSG, les meilleurs ennemis, enquête sur une rivalité, Paris, Mango Sport, december 2003, p. 131-137
8. Paris Saint-Germain changes hands

External links

★ Official site

★ Amazing PSG site

★ PSG7570

★ POLISH FAN CLUB

★ PSG New York City Club