How PSG Broke French Football

When the Qatari state acquired 70% of Paris Saint-Germain in 2011, and the remaining 30% in 2012, PSG had only ever won two Ligue 1 titles.

They have since won ten out of the last twelve Ligue 1 titles, seven trebles, and five quadruples, whilst almost every other professional football club in France has either already collapsed or is on the verge of collapsing.

In this video, HITC Sevens takes a look at the enormous financial disparities in Ligue 1, the impact that it has had on the league, and why French football now finds itself in such a sorry state.

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[bababababababa]

PSG’s sheer financial dominance only makes Monaco and Lille’s wins in 2017 and 2021 even more impressive

[lewisbrooks]

An intro without Adu getting panned? You must still be in the Christmas spirit Alfie!

[calumbishop]

What's funny is that as of right now PSG are set to dramatically crash out of the Champions League (currently 25th of the 36 teams needing to finish 24th or higher to advance), while the other 3 French teams all look likely to advance. For a team obsessed with the Champions League, the humiliation of being the only French team to crash out in a format where 2/3rds of the teams advance would be absolutely hilarious.

[filux]

its also sad to see how psg's VERY legit and dedicated fanbase/ultras had their reputation tainted by the most insufferable plastic fans

[tushyranx]

The Germans don't have an idea how lucky they are to have the 50+1 rule

[bababababababa]

I predict that Plymouth will be the next “What on earth” video

[tommygigg]

Well, PSG may have broken Ligue 1, but making French football stagnant has been great for French rugby. In a weird way they helped make France's Top14 the biggest rugby union league in the world.

[lucaslonchampt]

I will mention that PSG prior to being bought by Qatar won the last European trophy in the history of French Football, the 1996 Cup Winners' Cup

[stanyamish]

As a former Marseille fan and still follower of French football, I thought the arrival of QSI would be the best thing because it will force its rivals to become better.
I couldn't be further from the truth. I'm not saying Marseille could have won a league title but at least, it could have become a better-managed team which battles for podium, win a couple of national cups and competes on an annual basis on UEFA competitions. Instead, it has become an airport where players come and go each season and now, a washing machine for bad reputations. Yes, buying Greenwood was the last straw because it touches with a touching principle. But I digress, you get my point : no stability. It could have been a team FC Sevilla, Valencia (before its downfall), Borussia Dortmund or Arsenal, which are relevant teams.
The 2018 TV deal for the 2020-24 period killed the league. Mediapro was seen as unsustainable in Italy but in France, the big bosses thought "it won't happen to us". Therefore, many teams started to spend as if the one billion euros per season deal will be effective. I remember that everyone but the LFP (French professional football league) executives knew the deal will never be respected. We ended the 40-year-old partnership with Canal+ this year because of the greed of LFP. Many fans are still mad about it. Besides, unlike even 10 years ago, Canal+ doesn't need Ligue 1 as much as they did before thanks to the many sporting rights such as the UEFA club competitions, Formula 1, Divisions 1 & 2 of french rugby, Premier League, etc.
For Lille, the title is even more miraculous because the previous owner was the genius Gérard Lopez, a crook who still sinking football teams. They managed to escape catastrophe and went on to even win a Ligue 1 title.
With the purchase of Paris FC by Louis Vuitton (main) and RedBull (minor), I hope it will finally bring a serious rival. With the money from LVMH and the expertise of RedBull, it will be a great combination.

[fearghus]

Not forgetting a 0-0 draw against Derry City in the 2005-06 UEFA Cup!

[滋榎本]

PSG is the summary of everything wrong with modern football.

[onsideobsession]

After Rooney's sacking I think the next video should be about ex Sir Alex Ferguson players who have gone into coaching

Ranking them from worst to best

[_Ali.]

Alfie, I think a real deep dive into Utd as a club, both on and off the pitch is needed. 30 mins won’t even scratch the shit show we have become...

[MrRonald]

Something similar has happened in the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana, ever since CONMEBOL switched their formats to a year-long one in 2017, Brazilian teams have become more dominant with each passing year, with one of them winning each Libertadores final since 2019 (three of them being all-Brazilian affairs). It can also be said that having double the berths than the rest of South America also came in handy.

They already generated more money than the rest of South America before (winning the Copa do Brasil was worth more than the Copa Libertadores until recently), once they started allowing foreign investment, it has become even worse. Botafogo went from playing in Série B to winning the double in a few years thanks to that.

[gerardkhachaturyan]

It should have been titled either 'How PSG made Rugby great again' or 'How PSG made French people put more respect to Alain Prost'

[MasterTramsYouTube]

Interestingly, while the tide lifting every other team may not have happened in football, it does seem to have partially happened in handball, where PSG also own a record-spending team. Clubs like HBC Nantes, Montpellier and Toulouse are growing every season, to the point where there are genuine title challenges threatening PSG's status every year now, with HBC Nantes currently top of the table at Christmas. However, this isn't the full extent of the improvement French handball has seen, as if you look at the European competitions, French teams are regularly going deep, which they didn't do as frequently before. HBC Nantes in fact are 2nd in their 8 team group behind only Barcelona, who are European handball's dominant winners, and also coincidentally owned by the local football team.

[BOABModels]

I can imagine that support for a European Super league might be higher in France than the rest of Europe - that way PSG could be removed from Ligue 1!

[Xxxxyyy]

If football is a body, PSG is appendix, didn’t contribute any good moments for football but make things even worse

[brianodriscoll]

It’s hilarious how people mock psg for their plastic fans when psg were literally known for their ultras and strong fanbase in Paris pre take over lol

[kieronparr]

We really need stronger spending limits on ALL teams. Not that it will ever happen.