Parc des Princes
The Parc des Princes is an all-seater football stadium in Paris, France. It is located in the southwest of the French capital, within the 16th arrondissement, directly opposite the Stade Jean-Bouin. The stadium, with a seating capacity of 47,929 spectators, has been the home of French football club Paris Saint-Germain FC since July 1974. The pitch is surrounded by four covered all-seater stands: Tribune Auteuil, Tribune Paris, Tribune Borelli and Tribune Boulogne.
The stadium's surroundings were once a forest that served as a private recreation area and hunting ground for the king's sons for centuries, hence the name Parc des Princes. In 1852, the area was transferred to the Council of Paris. The first Parc was built there in 1897 as a velodrome, hosting prestigious cycling competitions including the Tour de France. Expanded in 1932, the second Parc adopted a more modern design to focus on other sports such as football, rugby union and rugby league.
Instigated by French president Charles de Gaulle and Minister of Sports Maurice Herzog, a project to rebuild the stadium to contemporary standards began on 8 July 1967, under the direction of Roger Taillibert. Georges Pompidou, who succeeded de Gaulle upon his death in 1970, officially inaugurated the stadium on 4 June 1972. The third Parc was one of the most advanced stadiums in Europe at the time, impressing with its futuristic lines, suspended concrete stands and formidable acoustics.
Before the opening of the Stade de France in 1998, the Parc was the home stadium of the France national football team and the France national rugby union team. PSG's record attendance at the Parc dates back to their 2–0 victory over Waterschei in 1983 in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in front of 49,575 spectators. The French football team's record attendance at the stadium was set in 1993, when 48,402 spectators watched their 2–1 FIFA World Cup qualification defeat by Bulgaria. However, the 50,370 spectators during French rugby union team's 31–12 victory over Wales in the 1989 Five Nations Championship holds the all-time attendance record at the Parc.
History
Inauguration and Tour de France
For centuries, the French royal family controlled the Forest of Rouvray, today a public park called the Bois de Boulogne, and used it as a private recreation area and hunting ground for the king's sons. Following the French Revolution of 1789, the area was taken over by the central government. In 1852, upon the declaration of the Second French Empire, Emperor Napoleon III ceded ownership to the Council of Paris. The Parc des Princes was built there on 18 July 1897, hence its name. It is the oldest stadium in Paris.With a seating capacity for 3,200, the Parc was initially an open-air velodrome for track cycling, the most popular sport in France at the time. Henri Desgrange, a French cyclist and sports journalist, was appointed director of the stadium. The first match was played on 14 November 1897, pitting rugby union teams Union Athlétique of France and Swindon RFC of England. The first football match took place on 26 December 1897. In front of 500 spectators, Club Français won 3–1 against the English Ramblers. In 1899, the Parc hosted its first major cycling event, the Bol d'Or cycle race, followed by the 1900 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. However, the Vélodrome de Vincennes was chosen instead of the Parc to host the 1900 Summer Olympics.
Desgrange and his business partner Victor Goddet, who were making a name for themselves managing the Parc, founded the cycling newspaper L'Auto in 1900 to compete with rival sports magazine Le Vélo. In an attempt to counter the popularity of Le Vélo, Desgrange took up the idea of a colleague, Géo Lefèvre, to organize a large-scale race: the Tour de France. Goddet secured the necessary funding and the first edition of the race was held in July 1903, finishing at the Parc. The Tour was a resounding success and L'Auto dominated the sports press for the next forty years, while Le Vélo ceased publication in November 1904. From 1903 to 1967, the Tour completed its course on the 666-meter-long pink cycle track of the Parc. It also hosted eight further UCI Track Cycling World Championships between 1907 and 1964.
In September 1902, Racing Paris became the Parc's first tenant. A year later, a Parisian team lost 11–0 to their English counterparts in front of 984 spectators in the stadium's first international football match. The France national football team played their first match at the Parc on 12 February 1905, beating Switzerland 1–0. On 1 January 1906, the France national rugby union team played their first official match at the same venue. 10,000 spectators watched France lose 38–8 to the New Zealand All Blacks. Both national sides continued to play regularly there, but their main home stadium was the Stade Yves-du-Manoir until 1972. During the first decade of the 20th century, the Parc also hosted three Top 14 finals, four USFSA Football Championship finals, the 1905 Coupe Dewar final and several Six Nations Championship matches between 1910 and 1920.
The Parc's capacity was increased to 10,000 seats just before World War I. After the war, the stadium hosted its first Coupe de France final in 1919 between CASG Paris and Olympique de Paris in front of 10,000 spectators. In 1922, the Council of Paris refused funding to convert the Parc into an Olympic Stadium for the 1924 Summer Olympics. It was eventually expanded to 20,000 seats, but was still considered too small by the International Olympic Committee. Thanks to funding from Racing, who had moved there from the Parc in 1920, the Yves-du-Manoir was expanded to 60,000 spectators and was thus chosen to host the event.
Expansion and 1938 FIFA World Cup
Following the Olympic Games, the Council of Paris signed a 40-year concession contract with L'Auto in 1925. Goddet died shortly after, in 1926, and his shares in the newspaper passed to his sons, Jacques and Maurice. Desgrange and the Goddet brothers began a major expansion of the stadium in 1931. Work was completed nine months later on 23 April 1932, with a capacity of 40,000 spectators, including 26,000 seats, and four stands, two of them covered, surrounding the pitch. These were named Tribune Présidentielle, Tribune Paris, Tribune Auteuil and Tribune Boulogne. However, the length of the velodrome's pink track was reduced from 666 metres to 454.The second Parc was inaugurated by tenants Red Star with a 4–2 win over Spanish side Athletic Bilbao in a friendly match on 9 October 1932. Racing also moved into the Parc, playing their first Ligue 1 match there on 23 October 1932 against Mulhouse. Stade Français joined Red Star and Racing later that year, and the three clubs shared the stadium until 1966. In rugby union, the Parc hosted France's 1937 FIRA Tournament final victory against Italy and two matches of the 1945–46 Victory Internationals. Several boxing matches were also held at the stadium. The first fight was on 12 June 1932, when French boxer Marcel Thil took the world middleweight title from American Gorilla Jones in front of 70,000 spectators. On 25 May 1946, the Parc hosted six more bouts, including the main event between French boxers Marcel Cerdan and Robert Charron, won by the former.
1938 was an eventful year for the Parc, beginning with the 1938 Coupe de France final, its second overall. It would again host the deciding match in 1940 and 1944. In June, the 1938 FIFA World Cup became the first major tournament held at the Parc since 1900. The stadium hosted the opening match between Switzerland and Germany, as well as Hungary's semi-final victory over Sweden, but the Yves-du-Manoir remained more important and was the venue for the final. Finally, on 10 December 1938, American soldiers remaining in France after World War I played the first American football game on French soil at the Parc in front of 25,000 spectators.
The 1939 Tour de France marked the last event at the stadium before World War II. It ended shortly before Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Plans were made for a Tour in 1940, and Desgrange hoped to host an American team for the first time, but these plans were put on hold following the German invasion of France. Desgrange died three months later, in August 1940, and full responsibility for L'Auto, the Tour, and the Parc fell to Jacques, his brother Maurice having sold his shares in L'Auto to a group of Nazi-sympathizing businessmen in the late 1930s. During the 1940s, despite the war, the Parc hosted four consecutive Top 14 finals between 1943 and 1946.
Jacques continued publishing during World War II, showing some sympathy for the occupying Germans. Upon the Liberation of France in 1944, he was accused of collaboration, L'Auto was closed, and its assets confiscated by the state. French publishing magnate Émilien Amaury came to his aid, and Jacques avoided jail. With Amaury's help, he eventually gained permission to launch a new sports newspaper, called L'Équipe, in 1946. Amaury also persuaded the authorities to return control of the Parc and the Tour to Jacques through L'Équipe the following year. In return, he had to cede 50% of his shares in L'Équipe to Amaury, who thus became a co-owner of the Tour. Events returned to the Parc soon after, starting with the 1947 Tour de France, the first edition since 1939. The 1948 Tour de France was another highlight; its finish at the Parc des Princes velodrome on 25 July 1948 was the first live television broadcast of the race.
First European final and reconstruction
The first night football match at the stadium, a friendly between Racing Paris and Brazilian club Bangu, took place on 23 April 1951. Racing lost 3–2. On 26 March 1952, the French Football Federation organized the first international outdoor night sporting event. Under 120 floodlights, France lost 1–0 to Sweden at the Parc. The Parc subsequently hosted two Latin Cup in 1952 and 1955, including both finals, in which Spanish teams Barcelona and Real Madrid defeated French sides Nice and Reims. In between, the 1954 Rugby League World Cup final, the inaugural edition of the tournament, was played at the stadium on 13 November 1954. The France national rugby league team lost 16–12 to Great Britain.The inaugural 1956 European Cup final was also held at the stadium, where Real Madrid again beat Reims on 13 June 1956. During that European campaign, Reims played most of their home matches at the Parc, and continued to do so occasionally until 1963, due to their own stadium being deemed too small. In 1960, France hosted the inaugural UEFA European Championship. The stadium saw Yugoslavia eliminate France in the semi-finals and then fall to the Soviet Union in the final. Between 1953 and 1967, before the stadium was rebuilt, the Parc hosted seven Coupe Charles Drago finals, two Trophée des Champions, the 1965 Coupe de la Ligue final and four Coupe de France finals.
French president Charles de Gaulle and Minister of Sports Maurice Herzog pushed through a project to convert the Parc into a joint national football and rugby stadium, adapted to contemporary standards. Pursuing their vision, the Council of Paris did not renew Jacques's lease on the stadium when it expired in 1965. As a result, Jacques ran into financial difficulties that year and sold his remaining 50% shares in L'Équipe to Amaury, who became the owner of the Tour. In 1967, the state gave the green light to a third version of the Parc, with French architect Roger Taillibert chosen to lead the project, working closely with Iranian artist Siavash Teimouri. The 1967 Tour de France was the 54th and last time that the race was run on the Parc's pink track, which ceased to exist following reconstruction.
Demolition began on 8 July 1967 and work was completed on 23 April 1972. However, matches continued to be played there, albeit with reduced attendance, including the 1969 Trophée des Champions and the 1970 Championnat de France Amateur final. The latter, played on 14 June 1970 between Pierrots and Montélimar, was the last match at this second incarnation of the Parc. In a stadium surrounded by cranes, Paul Kohler scored the only goal of the match, giving Pierrots their second consecutive title. The Parc had previously hosted four other Championnat de France Amateur finals between 1965 and 1969.
With a seating capacity for 47,929 spectators and four covered stands, the third Parc impressed with its futuristic lines, suspended concrete stands and formidable acoustics. Equipped with an integrated video and sound system, it was one of the most advanced stadiums in Europe, also being the first to feature rooftop lighting on the continent. The Parc was the largest stadium in France, home to the national football and rugby union teams, the venue of the Coupe de France, the Top 14 and the Coupe de la Ligue finals, and hosted the Six Nations, until the construction of the Stade de France.