Paris (AFP) – Six months after a joint takeover that involved Europe’s richest man and drinks giant Red Bull, Paris FC squeezed out a 1-1 draw at Martigues on Friday to lock up promotion to Ligue 1. The victory means that Paris will have two teams in the French top division for the first time in 35 years.
In Ligue 1, another billionaire-owned club, Nice, moved back into the Champions League places with a 1-0 home win over Reims. Morgan Sanson, who scored twice last weekend as Nice won away to confirmed champions Paris Saint-Germain, scored the winner from a rebound in the 15th minute on Friday. Nice’s late surge up the table could bring rewards for Jim Ratcliffe, a British chemicals billionaire, who has owned the Riviera side since 2019 and also has a stake in Manchester United.
Along the Mediterranean coast in Martigues, Paris FC brought an instant return for Europe’s richest man Bernard Arnault, the founder of LVMH, the luxury goods conglomerate that owns fashion brands like Dior, Louis Vuitton, and champagne producer Moet & Chandon. Pierre-Yves Hamel gave Paris FC a 49th-minute lead. Martigues levelled ten minutes later from a corner. With third-placed Metz held 3-3 at home by Rodez, Paris are sure of second place in Ligue 2 with one round of games to play. Paris are two points behind division leaders Lorient and could take first place when they host Ajaccio in their final game.
– ‘Ambitious project’ –
The Arnault family took a majority stake in the club last November, with his eldest son Antoine saying they wanted to turn the historically small club into a force. “It is an ambitious project but not an unrealistic one,” Antoine Arnault said. Red Bull, the Austrian energy drink company which has stakes in clubs in Austria, Germany, the United States, Brazil, Japan, and England and employs Jurgen Klopp as a consultant, took just over 10 percent as junior partners.
Paris FC have been playing on the south edge of Paris at Charlety. The university arena has an athletics track and “is a stadium where you cannot create an atmosphere,” said Klopp when he visited. “It has been a long time since I watched a game from that far away.” The Ligue 1 rivalry with French champions Paris-Saint Germain, another billionaire club that plays predominantly in blue and has the Eiffel Tower in their crest, will instantly be ramped up when Paris FC move in as next-door neighbours.
Paris FC plan to relocate to Stade Jean-Bouin, a 19,600-capacity rugby ground that is across the street from Parc de Princes, home to Paris-Saint Germain, on the west edge of the city. Ten years ago, the ground was briefly the unhappy home to an earthier team from the Paris suburbs, Red Star. While setting themselves up literally in PSG’s backyard might seem provocative, Antoine Arnault, 47, is typically smooth about the positioning. “You will never hear me say anything negative about PSG,” he said.
Instead, he said, they want to tap the Paris region’s rich seam of young footballing talent. “We want to build a team where we will have five, six, seven or even eight players who have come through the youth academy,” said Antoine Arnault, whose brothers and elder sister, Delphine, are also involved.
© 2024 AFP
