Stade de France reins in FIFA hands?

Article posted by Coliseum, March 10^th, 2023

Image: Stade de France, Zakarie Faibis, CC BY-SA 4.0

Will the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, be owned by FIFA? As per reports, it is very much a possibility. The FIFA President Gianni Infantino and France President Emmanuel Macron have discussed how football’s governing body might take over or buy the 80,000-seater located in Saint-Denis.

‘GETFOOTBALL’ stated that the Stade de France is owned by the French State and is currently managed by a consortium bringing together Vinci and Bouygues, whose concession ends on June 30^th, 2025. The State is due to imminently launch a bidding process for the period starting from July 1^st, 2025.

The Stade de France is the national stadium of France, located just North of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the sixth-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is used by the France national football team and the France rugby union team for international competition.

Zürich, Switzerland-based FIFA is the international governing body of association football, beach soccer and futsal. It was founded in 1904 to oversee international competition among the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

‘GETFOOTBALL’ further stated that owning the Stade de France is reportedly Infantino’s brainchild and that FIFA will closely look to open the tender offer process before making their move. But why would FIFA own the stadium mostly used to host France’s national teams, both in football and rugby union?

Reports assesses that Infantino would like to own a stadium this large in order to hold premium games or host national teams whose countries do not possess modern grounds. The Stade de France might even host the games of the upcoming revamped Club World Cup.

FIFA, the world football’s governing body, has released new details about its planned overhaul of the Club World Cup. The new format will launch in July 2025 and expand the competition to 32 teams, divided in eight groups.

The Stade de France is currently worth €600m with a further €300m-400m worth of renovation work. Questions still need to be asked regarding the structure of the deal and what legal form the new management of the Stade de France would take. Reports further added that the Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain F.C. (PSG) has no interest in moving to the stadium. FIFA has, however, denied their interest in purchasing the iconic French stadium.

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