Paris FC Survived Ligue 1. Their Next Job: Take on PSG | OneFootball

Paris Football Club returned to Ligue 1 in 2025 after 46 years away from the first division of French soccer. Finally, after two generations, Parisians had a proper derby. FC’s return to the elite had been a good story, but it has the potential to do much more.

During some periods of the 2025-26 season, Paris FC appeared to be in danger of being relegated to Ligue 2.

However, they engineered a successful January transfer window in which they signed players such as forward Ciro Immobile (35, free transfer from Bologna), midfielder Marshal Munetsi (29, loan from Wolverhampton), center-back Diego Coppola (22, loan from Brighton & Hove Albion), and Luca Keleosho (21, loan from Burnley). Additionally, they hired the experienced manager Antoine Kombouare in February, and got the project back on track.

With two matches left in the season, Paris FC is in 11th place in the league standings with 41 points. Not bad. That said, they can do more and should even aspire, at the very least, to unsettle the giant Paris Saint-Germain.

Paris FC Must Connect With Local Fans

First of all, the club, co-owned by Agache Sport (Bernard Arnault’s family), must connect with local fans. Paris is not only luxury and elegance; it is also a very soccer-loving city of ordinary people.

PSG is today a global club, and its marketing strategy is oriented internationally. It is not that Paris FC cannot or should not aspire to that, but a good start would be to, first and foremost, conquer the everyday fan. Offer affordable tickets to fill the Stade Jean-Bouin and, of course, promote local talent. But we will talk about that later.

While it’s true that PSG is one of the most beloved clubs in France; it’s also one of the most hated. Paris FC must capitalize on the narrative that PSG is a “state club,” or a team built on “petrodollars,” to challenge it with an antithesis. Of course, PFC also has millionaire owners, but proper management of signings, the academy, and marketing can communicate the right message to connect with the more romantic fans.

Academy Development Is Crucial

Paris FC must work on developing its academy. The Ile-de-France region is known for producing top-level talent. Establishing a system in which young Parisian players realistically aspire to reach the first team is a foolproof strategy to, in the long term, capture the attention of people in the region and grow in popularity and attendance.

Kylian Mbappé, Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kanté, Benjamin Mendy, Blaise Matuidi, Anthony Martial, and Kingsley Coman are a few examples of players from the Paris region. Only Mbappé and Matuidi managed to stand out at PSG. There is a significant opportunity there.

PSG cannot offer immediate continuity to its young academy players, no matter how much they have improved in that area since Luis Enrique’s arrival. Paris FC can offer that. With patience and a long-term vision, they can aspire to compete at the highest level of Ligue 1, and developing local talent is a good step in that direction.

El Chadaille Bitshiabu (20, RB Leipzig), Axel Tape (18, Bayer Leverkusen), and Wilson Odobert (21, Tottenham) are recent examples of PSG academy players who had to leave France in search of minutes. Today, any team in Ligue 1, with the exception of the Rouge et Bleu, would love to have talent of that caliber on its roster. Paris FC could retain them in France longer. How? By giving them continuity and minutes.

Paris FC’s Red Bull Ties Could Be Game-Changer

One of Paris FC’s co-owner is Red Bull GmbH, which holds 10.6% of the club’s shares. If there is one thing that RB Leipzig, RB Salzburg, and the rest of the Red Bull teams excel at, it’s the development of young talent but also its detection and recruitment.

Les Bleus must take advantage of this sporting intelligence to identify talent, above all in the Ile-de-France region. History tells us that it is already there. It is simply a matter of focusing efforts on directing them toward the Parisian club.

Let’s take the example of PSG’s Ibrahim Mbaye. What if he had been a Paris FC academy player? 18 years old, with speed, clever dribbling, good shooting, and opportunities with the Senegalese national team. PFC could offer him a starting spot almost immediately, and the player would not have to look for opportunities elsewhere in Germany or England, as has been reported.

Les Bleus have the opportunity to follow a path opposite to that of the club owned by Qatar Sports Investments, but it is also totally valid and viable. Competing for local titles will be a long haul, but with a proper strategy, PFC can unsettle PSG in direct confrontations sooner rather than later.