Football in France has certain peculiarities that make it unique.
First, French cities are or at least are perceived to be one-club cities, thus rivalries are regional or far-flung as opposed to cross-town rivalries. Several cities have smaller clubs that rarely, if ever, play above amateur level, but the nation’s capital Paris as well as Ajaccio in Corsica are notable exceptions.
Indeed, football in Paris has a chequered and complicated history while professionalism in France was only introduced in 1932 along with a national league. The result is a competition that has long been one of the most open in football, where many clubs spread out have won a fair proportion of championships – Saint-Etienne have 10, Olympique Marseille have eight plus one stripped from them, Nantes eight, Monaco and Lyon seven each, Reims, Bordeaux and and Paris Saint-Germain six each. This distribution is in stark contrast to most leagues in Europe.
PSG, remarkably for the casual fan, are one of the younger clubs in the football world and were the result of the chaotic state of football in the capital. When professionalism was introduced, Paris had clubs such as Red Star (founded by Jules Rimet), Racing Club and Stade Français (football sections of multi-sport clubs best known for rugby).
All three had their fair share of time in the First Division, with Racing Club winning the double in 1936. This continued after World War II, with Stade Français moving between the first and second levels while Racing Club had an epiphany in the late 50s and early 60s, narrowly missing out on the title in 1961 and 1962. The collapse of both Racing Club and Stade Français in the mid-60s left Red Star as the only club in the capital in the professional ranks where they stayed until the mid-70s.
In the late 60s, a group of businessmen launched a project called Paris FC, with the hope that they would breathe life into the moribund football scene in the capital and largest city. After all, most major cities in Europe boasted powerful, dominating football clubs and Paris was a bizarre exception. They merged Paris FC with Stade Saint-Germain, a minor club, to create Paris Saint-Germain.
There was a schism, which led to a separation of Paris FC and Paris Saint-Germain, but initially, Paris FC were the ones who played in the First Division while Paris Saint-Germain were to play in the lower leagues before a rapid rise to the top level by 1974. Paris FC, meanwhile, joined the capital’s other clubs in the lower ranks. It is worth noting that the current logos of Paris Saint-Germain and Paris FC appear to have a vague similarity to the untrained eye.
Hence PSG established themselves as the Paris club, although they had to scrap for success in an unpredictable First Division, yet acquiring accomplished footballers. Under the management of Gerard Houllier, they won their first championship in 1986. Another did not come until eight years later under Artur Jorge, while under Luis Fernandez they won the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1996.
The club’s history until 2011 was one of frustration interspersed with mediocrity, when new investment transformed not only PSG but evidently the very complexion of the French top flight. With a 9-0 win over bottom club Troyes, this year, PSG have assured themselves of a fourth consecutive Ligue 1 title, with nobody in sight to challenge them. They have also established themselves as regulars in the later stages of the Champions League and one of Europe’s superclubs.
What about the other Paris clubs, who have to fight and scrap elsewhere? In the 1980s, Jean-Luc Lagardère’s investment briefly revived Racing Club as Matra Racing in the hope that they could both rival PSG and contend for honours. They won promotion, and recruited big names like Enzo Francescoli and Pierre Littbarski. For a short time, it looked as if they could be a force but collapsed by the end of the decade, and thus the Racing name sank into obscurity where it has remained since.
Red Star, on the other hand, held their ground after relegation in 1975 and in the 90s were a respectable Second Division side, usually in the top half of the table with a small but dedicated fanbase. However, relegation in 1999 meant the beginning of some very hard times as they sank into the amateur ranks, before promotion to the National Division (the third tier of French football) in 2011.
Paris FC on the other hand had one more season (1978-79) in the First Division before sinking into the lower ranks, but in more recent times have been in the elevator between the National and CFA. Another club in the Paris region, US Créteil-Lusitanos, has had more success in recent times and spent extended periods in Ligue 2, where they currently are.
Season 2014-15, however, was a historic occasion for Red Star and Paris FC. Both clubs made steady progress since their return to the third level of French football, and finally got their reward with Red Star winning the national title and Paris FC finishing as runner-up. Red Star augmented their squad for that season by recruiting David Bellion, the biggest name in their current squad. For both clubs it counts as a great success after many difficult years, yet coinciding with the seemingly crushing dominance of the capital’s premier club. The result is that the Paris region now has three clubs in Ligue 2: Red Star, Paris FC and US Créteil-Lusitanos.
And it is getting even better for Red Star, who have established themselves as promotion contenders in Ligue 2 and are currently lying in fifth place, the highest position they have been since the 1990s.
Paris FC have, on the other hand, struggled badly and lie in bottom place with just one win and 17 draws while Créteil lie in 19th place, but still with a chance of escaping. The next derby between Red Star and Paris FC takes place on Tuesday night. Paris FC will be desperate for a result to give them any hope at all (all those draws may or may not have helped, and their defensive record is not the worst) while Red Star will be seeking for the points they need in the promotion hunt.
Should Red Star manage two consecutive promotions, it will give Paris its first top flight derby since the 1989-90 season. That would have been more than unthinkable even only five years ago. But now it is a distinct possibility, although as things stand, just as unlikely Paris will have more than one club of similar stature.
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