With Messi catch, PSG looking to expand home

Image: Arthur Lapeyrère, Théo Malzieu & GQ Magazine

With the Argentine football star Lionel Messi finally joining the Ligue 1 French football club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) (France) fold recently and the PSG on cloud nine following the prize catch, the PSG President, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, has expressed his desire to expand the capacity of the club’s home arena – Parc des Princes – stating that “every big club has a stadium with 80,000 spectators these days”.

The ‘Get French Football News’ stated that the City hall confirmed that the municipal authorities had been working with the club for several months with regard to expanding the capacity of the 45,000-seater former national team stadium.

Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain or PSG, is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football.

The Parc des Princes is an all-seater football stadium in Paris, France, in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16^th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin and Stade Roland Garros. The stadium, with a seating capacity of 47,929 spectators, has been the home of Paris Saint-Germain since 1974.

The ‘Get French Football News’ further stated that the authorities are looking at “several scenarios”, and that work on planning an extension would pick up in the coming months, not least with soccer giant Messi’s arriving increasing the club’s profile and “increasing the necessity to have a stadium that reflects the ambition of PSG”.

The City Hall authorities said, “There will be a succession of stages to pass in the coming months, each one as important as the next – it’s a continuous process that we need to follow to get to the objective.”

The ‘Punch’ quoted Al-Khelaifi as stating, “You have to expand this stadium. I love the Parc des Princes but it is important to expand this stadium for our fans and the future of our club.”

The City of Paris is backing the plans for the stadium which was last renovated in 1972.

An expansion from 48,500 to between 55,000 and 60,000 is expected but the capacity increase cannot extend beyond this limit due to the construction method of the stadium.

However, the Stade de France in Saint-Denis by Paris can hold 81,000 supporters.

The ‘Punch’ further stated that the arrival of Messi in Paris, on a free transfer from FC Barcelona, has further increased the global reach of the club with the Paris Deputy Mayor, Emmanuel Gregoire, calling it “amazing news, not only for Paris and French football but also sport in general”.
 

‘Un Grand Parc’

French, English, Swedish, and Italian architects, town planners, engineers, and graphic designers have imagined a project to extend the Porte de Saint-Cloud stadium (75,000 places instead of the 48,000 today). A spontaneous gesture called ‘Un Grand Parc’ which revives the debate on the transformation of the Parc des Princes into a large European stadium.

The ‘GQ’ stated that after the new 67,394-capacity Stade Vélodrome in Marseille (France), the 42,115-capacity New Stade de Bordeaux in France and the 59,186-capacity Stade des Lumières in Lyon, it is the turn of PSG to think about a new arena. Surprisingly, the initiative does not come from the club.

The leitmotif is simple: Create a stadium to match the ambitions displayed by PSG, the current Parc des Princes obviously not being big enough. Thus, from the current 48,000 places we would increase to 75,000. The area of the entire complex would also increase, offering new spaces, such as a restaurant, club museum and easier circulation. The project being huge, it also aims to modify the surroundings of the stadium, to facilitate access.

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