THE Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have shown tremendous growth – on or off the field – in the last decade or to be precise since it was acquired by the Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) in 2011. The French football giants marked its 50th anniversary on a day when it reached their maiden Champions League final despite injury setbacks, writing a a fresh chapter in their history books. Though PSG lost to German powerhouse Bayern Munich in the August 23 final, they have achieved many triumphs in the season.
The Parisians made clean sweep of titles in French football last season winning the Trophée des Champions, Ligue 1, Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue. Had they defeated Bayern Munich, they would have joined Scottish giants Celtic as only the second team to clinch trophies in all events they competed in a single season. Celtic won five titles in the 1966-67 season. Such is PSG’s rise on the field, and off the field it is no different.
Recently, the Harvard Business School released an extensive case study exploring the global PSG growth since the club was taken over by QSI in 2011. The independent 30-page case study investigated the meteoric rise of the club and the ambitious efforts taken on and off the pitch to elevate its standing as one of the most globally recognised sports brands in the world.
The study underlined PSG’s achievements since 2011 including many triumphs in national events including French League and French Cup titles. On the business side, the study said, PSG had shown strong growth as ‘revenues were up from €95m in the 2010-2011 season to €637m in the 2018-2019 season.’ The study also found match day revenues had quadrupled, from €24m in 2010-2011 to €115m in 2018-2019.
In addition, the study noted the rise in social media popularity of the club from ‘half a million followers across platforms in 2011, that count was up to nearly 81 million followers by 2020’, and ‘commercial revenues, covering sponsorship, merchandising and partnerships, increasing more than twelvefold, from €26m to €366m, in eight years’.
After last Sunday’s final, Qatar’s PSG President Nasser Al Khelaifi feels the club is not far away from achieving its main target, which is to win a Champions League title. After all, the French side has relished a phenomenal season as they fell just short of making history, making all the stakeholders including its fans proud of their victories. The club – which has become one of the top European sides – will enter the new season with more passion, knowing achieving their ultimate goal is within their grasp.
