PSG 4-0 FC Twente Enschede - 18/12/2008 UEFA Goals : 11'[1 - 0]P. Luyindula 23'[2 - 0]S. Sessegnon 84'[3 - 0]M. Kezman 85'[4 - 0]P. Luyindula Paris
Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, or PSG, is a French football club based in Paris. Their home stadium is Parc des Princes, and the team has always played in the French top flight, since its foundation in 1970.
The club was founded 1904 with the name "Stade Saint Germain". The current name appeared in August 1970 by the merger of Paris FC (a pool of financial investors) and Stade Saint-Germain. Gathering funds from nearly 20,000 subscribers, the creation of Paris FC marked the reappearance of a major club in Paris after the demise of R.C. Paris, Red Star and Stade Français (among others).
The union of F.C. Paris and Stade Saint-Germain was motivated by the need to find players, structures, and a place in a higher division, and it resulted in the creation of Paris Saint-Germain Football Club. The new club played in the Division nationale (second division) for the 1970–71 season, emerging as league champions and achieving a first division promotion in their first season.
After finishing 16th in the 1971–72 season and under pressure from the Paris city council to remove the reference to Saint-Germain, the club split in May. The professional part of the club joined C.A. Montreuil and remained in the top division as Paris FC, while the amateur part of the club continued in the third division as Paris Saint-Germain. The latter were promoted to D2 in 1972–73 as champions, following the disqualification of US Le Petit-Quevilly. The following season the club returned to professional status and finished second in the league, winning promotion to the top division in a play-off with Valenciennes FC. In an ironic twist, Paris FC was relegated in that season and Paris-Saint Germain would henceforth always play at the newly rebuilt Parc des Princes, once the ground of the former.
[edit] Francis Borelli era (1978-1991)
Francis Borelli took over as club chairman in 1978; under his control, Paris-Saint Germain conquered its first major trophies: two French Cups (1982, 1983) and the 1985-1986 French league.
The most notable players of this period were Carlos Bianchi, Dominique Baratelli, Luis Fernandez, Ivica Surjak, Dominique Bathenay and Dominique Rocheteau first, Safet Susic, Joël Bats, and Gabriel Calderón later, with Georges Peyroche, Gérard Houllier, Lucien Leduc and Tomislav Ivic as some of the coaches.
[edit] Canal + era (1991-2006)
In 1991, Borelli was forced to hand over control to Canal+, which invested the team in order to compete with Olympique de Marseille, starting an intense rivalry. After three years, the club enjoyed some success, 1st in 1993 league after Marseille's title was revoked for match fixing AND winning the 1993-1994 league . However, the TV network refused Paris-Saint Germain permission to accept the title relinquished by l'OM after their forced demotion to the second division for corruption. Canal+ feared the reactions of its subscribers in Provence, and even threatened to withdraw from football completely if the title was allocated to Paris-Saint Germain. Therefore, both the League and the Federation accepted and the 1993 title remained “not allotted”. The team were not even allowed by main sponsor to enter the UEFA Champions League after Marseille's exclusion.[1] The club's fortunes in Europe also took an upturn as they won the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1996, beating Rapid Vienna 1-0 in the final. They also reached the following year’s final, only to lose, again 1-0, to FC Barcelona.
During this period, Paris-Saint Germain also fared well in the French Cup, winning it in 1993, 1995, 1998, 2004, and 2006. In addition, they won three French League Cups (1995, 1998 and 2008).
