Paris St Germain - Parc des Princes - Capacity – 48,712 All Seater
The Stadium – Parc des Princes 24 Rue du Commandant Guilbaud, Paris 75016 The Parc de Princes was for so long the jewel in French sports grounds, boasting the biggest capacity and best facilities. Named after the Monarch’s hunting grounds that it sits on, it was originally opened in the late 19th century as a multi-purpose venue. It hosted athletics, cycling (it has been used for the final stages of the Tour de France), football and rugby.
It was also for long periods of time not used by any club side – the current tenants Paris Saint-Germain have only been formed in 1970. The ground was chosen by UEFA in 1956 to host the first ever Champions League final as Real Madrid beat Stade Reims. The stadium has gone on to host the European Cup final in 1975 when Bayern Munich beat Leeds United and again in 1981 when Liverpool beat Real Madrid. Two European Cup Winners Cup Finals and one UEFA Cup Final. In the late 1960’s the local city council wanted to demolish the stadium to make way for the newly constructed Paris Ring Road. Local opposition saw a huge demonstration mobilised against the plans and a compromise was found where the stadium was redeveloped by turning the pitch around allowing a tunnel to be built underneath.
The new remodelled stadium opened in 1972 for the French Cup Final between Marseille and Bastia, and the newly formed Paris Saint-Germain moved in 1972/73 season. The stadium was modernised again in 1984 as one of the host stadiums for the European Championships, which was won by France by beating Spain in the stadium – possibly the ground’s finest moment. In 1998 it also hosted a number of games in the World Cup Finals. A year later it hosted group matches for the Rugby World Cup including England’s quarter final defeat to South Africa. It will again host the Rugby World Cup next year.
The stadium can create an excellent atmosphere on match days. All of the stands are close to the pitch, and all seats in the two tier stadium offer unobstructed views. The hardcore PSG fans, the Boulogne Boys are located in the south stand. For games versus their hatred rivals Marseille the stadium is whipped up into a cauldron of noise and colour hours before kick off and is one of the great sights in football. Few stadiums in Europe can match this atmosphere.
Who Plays There? Many people associate PSG as the most successful team in France. This fact just underlines the power of the media – the team actually ceased to exist until 1970 when two local teams – Racing Club Paris and Saint-Germain Ensoon merged and gained some favourable decisions from the FFR in gaining firstly a place in the top division, and secondly being given a state of the art stadium in the newly remodelled Parc de Princes. One of the major backers in the team at the outset was media giant Canal Plus who used their channels to push the team’s image across Europe.
The early years were less favourable to the team as they struggled to make an impact, although they were up against some very good teams such as the Michel Platini-inspires St Etienne club. During the 1980’s the club started to make some progress on the field, although they were still struggling to attract the fans. They won their first trophy in 1982 when they captured the French Cup with exiled Ossie Ardiles pulling the strings. They won their first championship in 1986, although their debut in the European Cup lasted 180 minutes as they lost to Karvina 3-2 on aggregate. In 1991 they club were technically bankrupt, and it took some huge investment from Canal Plus to keep the team afloat. In 1993 the new look team featuring stars like Louis Fernandez, George Weah and David Ginola delivered trophies in the golden period for the club. The French Cup was brought home in 1993, 1995 and 1997 and they cup won the championship again in 1994.
European football was next on the agenda for the club and they started with the UEFA Cup in 1993/94. An impressive run of victories over PAOK Salonica, Napoli (with a fit again Maradona) and Anderlecht got them through to the Quarter-Finals versus Real Madrid. In one of the most famous games in the club’s history, PSG turned around a 3-1 defeat from Spain with a 4-1 victory, winning 5-4 on aggregate. In the Semi-Finals they lost 3-1 to Juventus, despite having number opportunities to snatch a winner in the 1-0 second leg home defeat. After the championship victory in 1994 they gained automatic qualification for the Champions League group stages put the club in the European spotlight for the first time. They did not disappoint initially, becoming one of the first (and subsequent only) teams to win all 6 group games against Bayern Munich, Spartak Moscow and a Shevchenko/Rebrov powered Dynamo Kiev.
In the Quarter-Finals they got a tough draw against Barcelona. However, a 2-1 win in Paris took them through 3-2 on aggregate and into the last four. Unfortunately this turned out to be the club’s peak as a 3-0 defeat to AC Milan saw them miss out on the final.
Undeterred, Louis Fernandez’s team picked themselves up and started an assault on the European Cup Winners Cup in 1996. The club easily brushed past Molde of Norway, Celtic and Parma to reach their third successive European Semi-Final. This time they managed to convert their chances and a 2-0 victory over Deportivo La Coruna took them into the final in Brussels versus Austria Vienna, and winning 1-0 with the goal being scored by Bruno N’Gotty – securing the club’s first ever European trophy.
The following season the club set out to retain their title in the European Cup Winners Cup. They easily beat Vaduz of Liechtenstein in the first round, before beating Galatassaray in another classic at the Parc de Princes (overturning a 4-2 1st leg deficit to win 6-4) and AEK Athens to take a place in the semi-finals for the fourth consecutive year. There, they met Liverpool and in a completely one sided home leg powered to a 3-0 lead. Despite some very nervous last few minutes at Anfield, a 2-0 defeat saw them reach the final again in Rotterdam. This time, Ronaldo’s penalty was the only difference between the teams.
The club took its place in the Champions League in 1998 again after winning the championship, and in a group featuring Bayern Munich, Besiktas and Gothenburg surprised a few by finishing joint top of the league with the Germans but with only two of the 6 runner’s up assured of a place in the Quarter-Finals they missed out on goal difference – the 5-1 hammering they received in Munich proving to be decisive.
Just when it seemed the club were ready to take their place amongst some of Europe’s greatest teams, the investment dried up, and so did the honours. Apart from a few brief appearances in the UEFA Cup, European football has gone too as the club slip further behind Olympique Lyonnais in terms of domestic success. A solitary Cup Final win in 2006 was the first for three seasons. The current team contains a number of young French players, although the most notable player is Portugal’s Pauletta.
The crowds have at least stayed with the club, averaging over 40,000 for the past five seasons. This year the club have started the season under Guy Lacombe with poorly, putting pressure on him with a number of defeats to teams they would normally be expected to beat. A season that yields two cup finals can normally not be a disaster but in PSG's case they came so close to losing their top level status. If they would have lost away at Sochaux instead of winning in the final game they would have been relegated instead of Lens. A League Cup final win may be some reward and does bizarrely mean UEFA Cup football next year but the fans will not tolerate such performances again.
How to get to the Parc Des Princes The Stadium is located to the south west of the city centre, right (technically above) the inner ring road. The easiest way to reach the stadium is by metro as it is served by both Line 9 to Pont de Sèvres and Line 10 to Boulogne-Pont de st-Coud. The stadium is signposted as you leave either station. You can also get regular bus services to Porte de St Cloud via the 22, 62 and 72 routes.
For an overview of who plays where in Paris, go to Footiemap.com to access their excellent website and their map of grounds in the French capital.
How to get a ticket for the Parc Des Princes Tickets are available for most games. The game which is always going to sell out is the one versus Marseille where you will need to buy along way in advance. Tickets can be bought from the Club’s megastores at the stadium or in the Champs D’Elysee. The club also sell the tickets via http://www.ticketclic.fr. Tickets range in price from €60 for a seat in Sections CD Rouge (Upper Tier in the middle) to €19 in the Boulogne end where the Boulogne Boys are located. A good safe bet for the neutral is in the HIJ sections which cost €32.
The Stadium – Stade de France - Capacity – 79,959 All Seater Cornillon Nord, La Pleine, Saint Denis
About the Stade de France In 1992 FIFA announced that France would host the 1998 World Cup Finals. One of the conditions of awarding them the finals was the provision of a stadium that could hold more than 70,000 fans. With only Marseille’s Stade Velodrome anywhere near this, and the fact that it was almost unheard of for a capital city not to host a World Cup Final (only Washington DC in modern times have not hosted the final after being awarded the competition), work started almost immediately on finding a site to build a state of the art venue. Once a site had been located in the north of the city, and funding put in place, construction started in 1995. What was unique about this project was the amount of resource allocated to the construction which meant that less than two years later, the stadium was ready and being used.
The stadium has a number of unique features such as the roof that appears to float above the stands – it is actually 42metres above the playing surface and gives complete cover from the elements to the 80,000 spectators. The lower tier is built in such as way that 25,000 seats can slide back into the middle tier allowing events such as Speedway and athletics to take place without compromising the views for Football and Rugby. The stadium is one of the best in the world in terms of spectator facilities and the sightlines are excellent.
Paris Saint-Germain were given the opportunity to move there, but decided to stay in the south west of the city. For a few games Red Star Paris played here and actually attracted a crowd of over 45,000 for a league game versus St Etienne in 1999. The stadium also hosts the annual Rugby game between Stade Francais and Toulouse, which is normally sold out.
The stadium not only hosted the famous World Cup Final between France and Brazil in 1998, but has also hosted the majority of the French football and rugby national games since opening. It has also hosted two Champions League finals – firstly in 2000 when Real Madrid beat Valencia, and in 2006 when Barcelona beat Arsenal. It will also host the final of the Rugby World Cup in October 2007. The stadium offers daily tours for €10 including two per day in English at 10.30am and 2.30pm. Click here to see a video taken in the stadium when France played England in March 2008.
How to get to the Stade de France The stadium is located in the Saint Denis area just north of the inner ring road, and almost adjacent to the A1 motorway that runs up towards Calais. It is very well served by public transport with the authorities deciding to build access points at either end of the stadium – a fact that the planners of Wembley Stadium have overlooked. RER station Stade de France-St Denis is on the Green line that passes through city from Creteil in the south, whilst RER station Le Plaine-Stade de France links Paris CDG airport in the north with Orly airport in the south on the Blue Line B. Both stations are one stop from Gare du Nord and the journey time is about 7 minutes. Metro line 13 also serves the stadium through the stop at St Denis-Porte de Paris.
If you want to travel by bus to the stadium then use lines 139 from Porte de la Villette or 173 from Porte de Clichy. A taxi from the centre of the city will cost around €20.
For an overview of who plays where in Paris, go to Footiemap.com to access their excellent website and their map of grounds in the French capital.
How to get a ticket for the Stade de France Depending on what the event is will depend on the ease of getting a ticket for the stadium. Most French Rugby internationals are sold out and tickets never go on general sale. Tickets for the French League and Cup Finals go on sale around 4 weeks before the events via http://www.ticketclic.fr. They also sell tickets for the French Football team internationals and it can be possible to get these within a day or so of the game.
Paris CDG airport is located around 25km to the north east of Paris, adjacent to the A1 motorway that runs up to Calais. It one of the biggest airports in the world in terms of size, and the second busiest in Europe behind Heathrow. It has five terminals in total – although they are split into two hubs – A & B. The airport is connected to Paris by the RER rail line which runs to Gare du Nord and Les Halles in around 25 minutes from the station in terminal 2B. The station also serves TGV trains to Lille, Lyon and Marseille.
The airport has not been without its incidents in the past including the crash just after take off on a Turkish airline, carrying England Rugby fans in the early 1970’s as well as the fateful Concorde crash in July 2000. Also, shortly after Terminal 2E opened in 2004 part of the ceiling collapsed and killed four people. The airport is also famous for being the real-life location of the man depicted in the film The Terminal – where Tom Hanks’ character is denied entry to his destination, but then cannot leave the airport due to visa restrictions. The real life character Merhan Karimi Naseri still lives at the airport, despite being free to leave. The following airlines currently use Paris CDG.
Terminal 1 BMI – Leeds/Bradford and London Heathrow BMIBaby – Cardiff and Nottingham/East Midlands Flybe – Exeter and Norwich
Terminal 2B British Airways – London Heathrow BA Connect – Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester
Terminal 2F Air France – London Heathrow and Manchester Brit Air – Newcastle and Southampton CityJet – Birmingham, Edinburgh and London City
Terminal 3 Easyjet – Bristol, Liverpool, London Luton and Newcastle Jet2 – Leeds/Bradford
Alternative Airport - Paris Orly (ORY) Telephone: +33 1 49 75 52 52 Website: http://www.aeroportsdeparis.fr
Orly Airport is becoming more important as a route to Paris as CDG starts straining at the edges due to over capacity. It is located closer to the city than CDG, although journey times tend to be the same. There are a number of ways to reach the city centre. The most direct is to catch the transit from either Orly Ouest or Orly Sud to Antony station which takes 8 minutes. From there you can then catch RER line B to Les Halles in less than 25 minutes. There is also a bus that runs to Denfert Rochereau in the city in approximately 30 minutes. The airport has two terminals – South and West. The following airlines fly to Orly - Easyjet fromLondon Gatwick, Thomsonfly from Bournemouth, Coventry and Doncaster-Sheffield, and Air France fromLondon City
Whilst being around 60 miles north of Paris, Beauvais airport earns the right to call itself Paris as much as Luton or Stansted do to call themselves London airports. The airport was originally a military base until 1956 when it opened to commercial flights. Ryanair became the first major airline to start using the airport in 1998. They currently fly here from London Stansted and Glasgow Prestwick. A bus meets all inbound flights, taking 75 minutes to reach the city centre at Port Maillot. Tickets cost €13 each way.
The Stadium – Parc des Princes
About the Stade de France