PSG’s popularity across France is on the rise | OneFootball

At the end of last month, Paris Saint-Germain completed the back-to-back in the UEFA Champions League. As was the case the previous season, the club’s fans lined the streets of the French capital the next day to welcome back their heroes, with thousands in attendance along the Champs-de-Mars and at the Parc des Princes.

Across France more generally, support for Les Parisiens is growing, too, as a study has found. 1511 French respondents participated in the study, which found that there is a significant increase in the club’s popularity and reputation.

73% of respondents believe that PSG enhances France’s image internationally, 71% say that the club promotes French football, and 67% believe that they make French people proud. In addition, 77% of those that watched PSG’s UCL final against Arsenal at the end of May wanted the Ligue 1 side to win, whilst 84% support Les Parisiens when they come up against a foreign side in European competition; 67% of respondents now have a positive image of PSG, with the team associated with hard work (73%) and solidarity (69%). 

‘Long live Paris, long live PSG, long live France’ – Macron

By achieving the back-to-back, PSG have become the first team to win the UCL on two occasions. The only other side to win it is Olympique de Marseille (1993). 65% of respondents consider PSG to be one of the greatest teams in the history of French sport. Among France’s most iconic football teams, PSG come first (43%) ahead of OM’s team of the ’90s (14%) and AS Saint-Étienne’s side of the ’70s (13%). 

The sentiment expressed by respondents in the survey was echoed by President Emmanuel Macron during PSG’s UCL title celebrations. “Thanks to PSG, France, in two years, has done what it hadn’t done in 70 years – win two (Champions League) titles. You are the pride of Paris and of the whole of France […] Long live Paris, long live PSG, long live France,” he said.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle