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Paris-Saint-Germain Football Club (France)

PSG

Flags of PSG - Images by Ivan Sache, 31 March 2020

Presentation of PSG
Flag of PSG
- Supporter's flags
Club flags, 2003-2013
- Supporter's flags
Club flags, 1996-2003
Club flags, 1994-1995
Ultras flags

See also:

France
France: Sports flags
Paris (Municipality and department, France)
History of the emblem of PSG (unofficial website)

Presentation of PSG

Paris-Saint-Germain Football club was created on 12 August 1970 as the merger of Paris Football Club (PFC), then a dormant club, and Stade Saint-Germain (SSG), an amateur club based in the town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye that just advanced to the Second League. PSG won eight national titles (1986, 1994, 2013-2016, 2018,2019) and 12 French cups (records); the club won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 (1-0 to Rapid Vienna).

The original merger between PFC and SSG split in May 1972: the club's professional section remained in the First League under the name of PFC while the amateur section played in the Third League under then name of PSG.
From 1974 to 1978, PSG was presided by the fashion designer Daniel Hechter (b; 1938). He had to leave the club in 1978 after the revealing of the "double ticketing" system - entrance tickets were sold twice to supply additional income to the players - and was permanently banned from the management of football clubs.
Hechter was succeeded by Vice-President Francis Borelli (1932-2007), who remained famous for "grazing" the stadium's green to celebrate the club's victories in the French Cup. In 1991, PSG was taken over by the TV-channel Canal+, then official broadcaster of the French championship, in need of opposition to Olympique de Marseille. The two clubs created from scratch a rivalry between their supporters and invented the "classico", a very pale copy of the matches opposing FC Barcelona to Real Madrid in Spain. The decline of PSG, started in 1998, was aggravated by the poor management of the Colony Capital fund, which acquired the club in 2006.

PSG was taken over in 2011 by the Qatar Investment Authority through its fully-owned subsidiary Qatar Sports Investment (QSI), whose President, Nasser al-Kelaifi, was appointed President of the PSG. The aim of the new owners was to win as many national and international titles as soon as possible by massive supply of funds, unprecedented in the French championship. The strategy proved to be successful at the national level, the payload being the "sterilization" of the competition that dramatically lacks suspense, but is still unsuccessful at the European level.

Ivan Sache, 31 March 2020

Flags of PSG

The flag of PSG (photo, photo, photo, photo, photo), as officially displayed in the beginning of matches, is square, either red or blue with the club's emblem.

These flags feature the emblem adopted in 2013 after the taken over of the club in 2011 by the Qatar Investment Authority.
The Qatari ambitions were also emphasized in the "modernization" of the emblem. References to the old club and to the town of Saint-Germain, deemed illegible at the international level, were dropped while references to Paris were emphasized: Louis XIV's pram and the foundation year were suppressed, while the fleur-de-lis was kept, probably to symbolize Paris and as a wink to the Qatari monarchy. So was the stylized Eiffel tower. The writing in the ring was also amended, with "PARIS" kept in the upper part, in big letters, while "SAINT-GERMAIN" was "relegated" to the lower part of the ring, in much smaller letters. These changes caused the wrath of several supporters' associations and former club players, to no avail.

Ivan Sache, 31 March 2020

Supporter's flags

PSG supporter's flags - Images by Ivan Sache, 31 March 2020

Supporters use rectangular versions of the official flags (photo, photo, photo).

PSG supporter's flag - Image by Ivan Sache, 31 March 2020

The red flag is sometimes charged with the white writing "ICI C'EST PARIS" (You are in Paris here), placed vertically along the fly, to be read from bottom to top (photo).

PSG supporter's flag - Image by Ivan Sache, 31 March 2020

They also use a flag vertically divided blue-red-blue (1:2:1) with the club's emblem superimposed to the three stripes (photo).

Ivan Sache, 31 March 2020

Club flags, 2003-2013

Club flags, 2003-2013 - Images by Ivan Sache, 31 March 2020

Between 2003 and 2013, the club's official flag was square, either red or blue, with the club's emblem, which featured a pram and a fleur-de-lis under the Eiffel Tower's arch and was surrounded by a blue ring inscribed with the club's name in the upper part and the foundation year in the lower part, all in white.
This emblem is very similar to the one adopted in 1973, which lacked the ring and writing, had the cradle represented in yellow and a black and white representation of the Parc des Princes stadium placed beneath the shield.

The pram and fleur-de-lis are taken from the arms of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, which were granted by Royal Letters signed on 17 August 1820 by King Louis XVIII, as "Azure a pram or semé with fleur-de-lis azure in chief a fleur-de-lis or in base the writing '5 7bre 1638' or".
The pram and date recalls that Louis XIV was born in the castle of Saint-Germain on 5 September 1638. At the time, the Royal court was still nomadic, staying in Saint-Germain for 4 to 10 months every year. Louis XIII died in the castle in 1643; in January 1649, young Louis XIV, his mother and Cardinal Mazarin nightly withdrew to Saint-Germain during the Frond uprising; the king never forget this episode, which prompted him to definitively suppress the nobles' military power and to "invent" Versailles as a golden jail to "sedentarize" the idle court. The court left Saint-Germain in 1682, in the aftermath of the Affair of the Poisons, a series of rumor on crimes perpetrated by the highest nobility that spread in 1679.
Louis XIV was "succeeded" in Saint-Germain by his cousin, the exiled King of England James II, who established his court in the castle from 1689 until his death in 1701.
[Le Parisien, 19 April 2015]

Ivan Sache, 31 March 2020

Supporter's flags

PSG supporter's flags - Images by Ivan Sache, 31 March 2020

Supporters mostly used a flag vertically divided blue-red-white (1:4:1) with a white fimbriation between the stripes and the club's emblem in the red stripe (photo, photo). This flag was, undoubtedly, derived from the club's "historical" jersey designed by Daniel Hechter.
Flags horizontally divided white-red-white with a blue fimbriation between the stripes and the club's emblem superimposed to the three stripes were also used, as well as red flags with the club's emblem were also used (photos).

Ivan Sache, 31 March 2020

Club flags, 1996-2003

PSG supporter's flag - Image by Ivan Sache, 31 March 2020

A flag used by the club's supporters (photo was white with a red (left) and blue (right) border, charged in the center with the club's emblem, which was similar to the next one, but with the ring' colors swapped - blue writing on a white ring.

Ivan Sache, 31 March 2020

Club flags, 1994-1995

Club flag, 1994-1995 - Image by Ivan Sache, 31 March 2020

The club's flag (photo, 2013!) was white the short-lived emblem that got rid of the traditional charges, while keeping the color references to the club's "historical" jersey designed by Daniel Hechter; the emblem was made of three rectangles, blue, red and blue, respectively, charge with the white letters "P", "S" and "G", and, beneath, a black rectangle inscribed with the club's name in white capital letters.

Ivan Sache, 31 March 2020

Ultras flags

Ultras flags - Images by Ivan Sache, 31 March 2020

The club's ultras use typical, horizontally striped or crossed flags (photo, photo, photo, photo).

Ivan Sache, 31 March 2020