Paris Saint-Germain Féminine

A year after the foundation of the club, Paris Saint-Germain created their women's section in the summer of 1971 after the French Football Federation (FFF) gave the green light to female football.[1][2] PSG signed 33 women for the 1971–72 season and the newly formed team began life in the Ligue de Paris Île-de-France, the lowest level of the football pyramid.[1][2][3] They finished second that campaign, their best result ever, and continued life in the Parisian championship for seven more years, albeit with less success.[3]

Ahead of the 1979–1980 season, PSG were promoted to the top flight of French football, the Division 1, after it went from 20 to 48 teams.[1][2] Their inaugural stint, however, only lasted three seasons, and PSG were relegated to the Division 2 in 1982.[2] The Red and Blues bounced between the two top divisions over the next 19 years. Following a dramatic 1999–2000 season in which they missed promotion to the elite by losing their last match against promotion contenders SC Schiltigheim, PSG finally steadied the ship in 2001.[3] Led by coach Sébastien Thierry and young defender Laura Georges, the team won 16 out of 18 games played in Group A to claim back their place amongst the best in France. PSG would then clinch the 2000–01 Division 2 title by defeating Group C leader Tours in the final. Since then, Paris SG have never been relegated from Division 1.[2][3]

Under incoming manager Cyril Combettes, Paris Saint-Germain remained without major problems in Division 1, usually stuck in mid-table and nowhere near challenging for the title against the top teams.[1] In the summer of 2005, starlets Sabrina Delannoy and Laure Boulleau, two of the club's most iconic players, signed from CNFE Clairefontaine. Together, they played more than 400 matches with PSG, being their two most capped players. The defending duo experienced everything with the capital side: relegation battles, mid-table finishes, title races and the club's first major trophy.[3] Men and women confounded, Delannoy is PSG's fifth most capped player ever, only behind male counterparts Jean-Marc Pilorget, Sylvain Armand, Safet Sušić and Paul Le Guen. She arrived at just 19 and retired in 2017 after a 12-year career and 321 matches played with Paris, becoming one of the club's all-time greats.[2]

At the end of March 2007, Cyril Combettes resigned due to relationship problems with the players; he was replaced by Eric Leroy for the 2007–08 season.[1][3] Despite a difficult start, including a heavy defeat to Montpellier in the first match, the season was a success.[3] Under Leroy's direction, the team finished in fifth place and reached their maiden Challenge de France final.[1][3] Having crashed out at the same stage in 2005, the Red and Blues learned their lesson and defeated Parisian Derby rivals Paris FC (at the time called Juvisy) in the semi-finals.[2][4][5][6] Olympique Lyonnais, however, proved too strong for PSG in the title-decider at the Stade de France, easily taking home the cup with three unanswered strikes.[1][2][3]

Following a disappointing 2008–09 season, co-managers Camille Vaz and Karine Noilhan replaced Éric Leroy in June 2009. PSG recruited French internationals Élise Bussaglia, Julie Soyer and Jessica Houara during that summer.[1] The women's team then celebrated their 38th birthday by making their debut at the Parc des Princes. Usually reserved for the men's side, PSG hosted city rivals Paris FC at the stadium on October 18, 2009. In front of 5,892 spectators, they defeated their guests thanks to an early goal from Camille Abily. The 2009–10 campaign ended with a third place, a first for them on the podium.[3] Better yet, the Parisians also reached their second Challenge de France final after eliminating juggernauts Lyon in the semi-finals.[2]

Noilhan had left the club shortly before the final, leaving Vaz as the sole coach.[7][8] This, however, did not stop PSG from crushing defending champions Montpellier at the Stade Robert Bobin to claim their second trophy ever and their first since 2001.[2] Emblematic club striker Ingrid Boyeldieu, who would retire at the end of the season, opened the scoring in the first half. After the break, PSG added four more goals for a brutal 5–0 scoreline, the largest victory in the history of cup finals.[1][3]

The 2010–11 season marked a turning point for Paris. In the summer, Brazilian star Kátia joined on a free signing from Lyon. Then, PSG finished league runners-up, behind heavyweights Olympique Lyonnais, and qualified to the UEFA Women's Champions League for the first time in their history. The Parisians dramatically defeated second-placed Montpellier in the final game of the season, with team captain Sabrina Delannoy scoring the winning penalty in stoppage time. And, finally, Élise Bussaglia was named Division 1 Féminine Player of the Season.[1]

Exempted from the group stage, PSG made their European debut by comfortably eliminating Irish side Peamount in the Round of 16, before being themselves ousted by German giants and future finalists 1. FFC Frankfurt.[2] The rest of the 2011–12 campaign, however, was not as successful. Undermined by the injuries of key players Léa Rubio, Laure Lepailleur and Caroline Pizzala, the team loses its grip and finishes in fourth place after suffering a heavy defeat at home to Île-de-France rivals Paris FC. As a result, coach Camille Vaz left the club at the end of the season.[1]

PSG bounced back immediately with the professionalisation of the team by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) ahead of the 2012–13 campaign. They spent big to build a team capable of competing with the best clubs in France and Europe, including Lyon, and signed its 21 players to a federal contract, something unprecedented in women's football.[2][3] Renowned international players Shirley Cruz, Kosovare Asllani, Annike Krahn and Linda Bresonik were the first to arrive, as well as Farid Benstiti, the coach who guided Lyon to four consecutive league titles.[3] A season later, PSG recruited Marie-Laure Delie, the first women's football transfer in France, for €50k.[1] As part of this revolution, PSG also moved to the Stade Sébastien Charléty in 2012 and then to the Stade Jean-Bouin in 2018, abandoning the smaller Stade Municipal Georges Lefèvre, which had been their home stadium since 1971.[1][9]

These investments allowed PSG to challenge the supremacy of Olympique Lyonnais, with the duo developing a heated rivalry dubbed as Le Classique.[10][11][12] However, Lyon has kept a head start over Paris, who have seen their arch-rivals clinch the league title for a record 14 consecutive times since 2007.[3][13][14] The Red and Blues have managed a few important victories during that time, though. Despite being league and cup runners-up behind Lyon in 2013–14, they recorded their first ever win over the champions in January 2014, with a solitary goal from Laura Georges at the Stade de Gerland. It was Lyon's first league defeat at home since March 2010, an unbeaten streak spanning 87 matches.[1][3]

PSG repeated the feat in 2014–15, this time in the Champions League, as Fatmire Alushi scored the only goal at Gerland to eliminate Lyon in the last 16 and then went all the way to the final.[1] Nonetheless, the season ended in disappointment. Paris once again finished second to Lyon in the league and lost the 2015 UEFA Women's Champions League Final to Frankfurt at the last second.[1][2][15] Lyon retaliated in 2015–16 by claiming the championship and then crushing PSG in the Champions League semi-finals. They scored seven times without response, inflicting PSG's biggest defeat in the continental competition and one of their biggest ever.[7][16] Even worse, Paris finished third in the league and missed qualification to the Champions League.[7][8] The club did not renew Farid Benstiti's contract and was replaced by Patrice Lair, another former Lyon coach.[7][8][12]

They were back at it again in 2016–17. PSG first their rivals, also by a 1–0 margin, in December 2016, but Lyon still managed to retain the 2015–16 league title.[13][14] Then they crossed paths in the French Cup final, won by Lyon after an endless penalty shoot-out, and in the 2017 UEFA Women's Champions League Final, which also had to be decided on penalties. The teams could not be separated after seven kicks each. Then PSG goalkeeper Katarzyna Kiedrzynek stepped up and missed, unlike her counterpart Sarah Bouhaddi, who handed Lyon the European victory by converting her effort.[2][17] With Bernard Mendy on the bench, filling in after the surprise departure of Lair,[7][8][18] the capital outfit exacted revenge on Lyon by defeating them in the French Cup final in May 2018, with a solitary goal from French international striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto.[13][14]

Olivier Echouafni was named manager in June 2018, while Mendy stayed on as his assistant.[19] The Parisians finished league runners-up in 2018–19 and 2019–20, while losing the French Cup and French Super Cup titles to Lyon as well. Echouafni's third season in charge has been promising so far as PSG ended Lyon's 80-game unbeaten league streak in November 2020. Once more, Katoto scored the lone goal of a game played behind closed doors at the Parc des Princes. This result allowed PSG to replace Lyon at the top of the 2020–21 Division 1 Féminine table.[13][14]

Between 1971 and 2012, the club played its home matches at the Stade Municipal Georges Lefèvre,[3] located in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, just across the street from the Camp des Loges, the training center of the club's male football section.[25] When the team professionalised ahead of the 2012–13 season,[2][3] PSG relocated to the 20,000-seater Stade Sébastien Charléty until 2017.[1] That year, they returned to the Georges Lefèvre for the 2017–18 campaign,[26] before moving out again at the start of the 2018–19 season to the 20,000-capacity Stade Jean-Bouin, located across the street from Parc des Princes, home to the men's first football team.[27][28] Ever since then, only a few matches have been relocated to the Georges Lefèvre.[29]

The women's team also have occasionally played at the Parc des Princes, usually unavailable because of the men's games. They made their debut October 18, 2009, defeating Parisian Derby rivals Paris FC (previously Juvisy) in front of 5,892 spectators.[3][30] The stadium was also used during the 2015 and 2017 UEFA Women's Champions League campaigns.[30] In November 2020, they beat Le Classique arch-rivals Olympique Lyonnais at the Parc. The ladies have won five of their six games played at the stadium, scoring 13 goals and conceding only one.[13][14][30]

PSG Féminine train at the Centre Sports et Loisirs de la Banque de France de Bougival (CSLBF de Bougival).[27] The Camp des Loges will become the training ground of the female football team and academy in 2022. Their male counterparts will move to the Paris Saint-Germain Training Center.[31][32] The new venue will have its own stadium.[33] With a total capacity of 5,000, including over 3,000 seats, the arena will host some of the women's first team games in official competitions such as the Division 1 Féminine and UEFA Women's Champions League.[34][35]

Paris Saint-Germain shares an intense rivalry with Olympique Lyonnais; matches between the two teams are referred to as Le Classique.[10][11][12] It is the female version of the rivalry between parent club Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique de Marseille in men's football, also called Le Classique.[12] Lyon have been the dominant force in French and European football ever since their foundation in 2004, being champions of the Division 1 Féminine in 14 consecutive seasons between 2007 and 2020 as well as winning the UEFA Women's Champions League seven times, five of which were in a row.[12][13][14] On the other hand, PSG only began to challenge Lyon's hegemony after 2012, when Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) took over the team. Now with serious financial backing, Paris became a team capable of competing with the best clubs in the world, including Lyon, and thus a fierce rivalry emerged between the two sides in the 2010s.[1][2][3]

The Red and Blues also have a strong rivalry with fellow Île-de-France outfit Paris FC (called Juvisy until 2017). Known as the Parisian Derby, the duo compete for recognition as the capital's top team. Prior to the appearance of Lyon in the 2000s and the rise of PSG into an elite club in the 2010s, Paris FC were the biggest team in the land and usually had the upper hand against their city rivals. In fact, PFC were the last side to win the league title aside from Lyon in 2006. Nowadays, PSG dominate the derby thanks to the huge gulf created between them by the investment of their Qatari owners, while PFC are trying to establish themselves as France's third team.[4][5][6]

• Division 1
  • Runners-up (8): 2010–11, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20

• Division 2
  • Winners (1): 2000–01
  • Runners-up (2): 1982–83, 1984–85

• Ligue de Paris
  • Runners-up (1): 1971–72

• Coupe de France
  • Winners (2): 2009–10, 2017–18
  • Runners-up (4): 2007–08, 2013–14, 2016–17, 2019–20

• Trophée des Championnes
  • Runners-up (1): 2019

• UEFA Women's Champions League
  • Runners-up (2): 2014–15, 2016–17

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  GER Charlotte Voll 2 DF  FRA Bénédicte Simon 4 DF  POL Paulina Dudek 5 DF  USA Alana Cook 6 MF  BRA Luana 7 FW   SUI Ramona Bachmann 8 MF  FRA Grace Geyoro 9 FW  FRA Marie-Antoinette Katoto 10 FW  DEN Nadia Nadim (vice-captain) [63] 11 FW  FRA Kadidiatou Diani 12 DF  CAN Ashley Lawrence

No. Pos. Nation Player 13 MF  GER Sara Däbritz 14 DF  ESP Irene Paredes (captain) [64] 16 GK  CHI Christiane Endler 18 MF  FRA Laurina Fazer 20 DF  FRA Perle Morroni 21 MF  FRA Sandy Baltimore 22 FW  DEN Signe Bruun 23 FW  CAN Jordyn Huitema 24 MF  BRA Formiga 30 GK  USA Arianna Criscione 40 GK  FRA Alice Pinguet

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  FRA Aminata Diallo (at Atlético Madrid until 30 June 2021) [65] — MF  FRA Léa Khelifi (at Dijon until 30 June 2021) [66]

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  FRA Hawa Sangaré (at Le Havre AC until 30 June 2021) [67]