PSG Abandons Parc des Princes, Tense Reaction From Paris Mayor

On Thursday, PSG announced its intention to leave Parc des Princes. The response from Paris City Hall was swift and firm.

“It’s too easy to say now that the stadium is no longer for sale. We know what we want; we wasted years trying to buy Parc des Princes. It’s over now. We want to move away from Parc,” declared PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, clarifying the club’s stance.

These statements caused quite a stir. Within minutes, Pierre Rabadan, deputy to the mayor of Paris in charge of sports, responded to the PSG executive via Le Parisien. “We want PSG to stay at Parc des Princes. There are several possible solutions for this, without resorting to selling the stadium. We’ve been calling for the resumption of dialogue for the past two years.”

Although the remarks may seem smoothed over, behind the scenes, Parisian officials are more tense. “When Nasser says they lost eight years, it’s false. We worked with them for nearly three years on expanding the stadium’s capacity. We were in favor of it. But at that time, there was no question of selling. The club’s leaders only told us from 2022 onwards that they wanted to buy the stadium.”

“There are rules to follow, and the PSG president doesn’t seem to understand them. The conditions are not right for selling Parc des Princes, considering the composition of the Council. And even in the event of a change in 2026, it’s not certain that things will be different,” explained a source in Le Parisien.

On NAK’s side, they point to Disneyland Paris as an example. “Remember Euro Disney. When it was built, everyone laughed, saying it was too far to attract people. Today, the debate is irrelevant. He (the PSG president) is building the club for the next 100 years, not for political terms of six years like the city hall.”