The Arnault family bought Paris FC and joined forces with Klopp

The Arnault family, the richest in France Due to its control of the LVMH luxury empire, it entered the football official this Wednesday in the purchase of a majority stake of Paris FC in relation to Red Bull.

The operation will be performed on two stages and in the first of them the Arnault will own 52% of the club and Red Bull 11%predicting that they will go to 80 and 15%, respectively, from 2027, when the current owner, Pierre Ferracci, ending his departure, as the latter detailed in a press conference.

One hundred million euros

The Arnaults will make their investment through Financiere Agache, which manages the family’s private interests outside of LVMH. Antoine Arnault, one of the sons of patriarch Bernard Arnault, will lead the family’s interests.

Antoine Arnault, who was also present at the press conference, refrained from specifying investment figures, but acknowledged that the amounts leaked by the French press (about 100 million euros) were “not far off the mark.”

Youth and women’s football

He explained that they want Paris FC to continue building itself around the current sporting values ​​of inclusion and respect, sustainability her continued work with the youth team and her commitment to women’s football, along with a philosophy of incremental growth “progressively and without wanting to burn through stages.”

“We believe there is room for another club in Paris with a different philosophy and takes time,” said Arnault, referring to at Paris Saint-Germain, where he did not rule any rivalry, because this is his favorite team and He is a friend of its president, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi.

Klopp, enthusiastic

Arnault is highlighted the importance of Red Bull’s presence in the project, but only in the sports part, because its shareholding will be a minority.

He explained that Red Bull shares with LVMH and Paris FC a “high ambition”, but “for a long time, without promising the Moon”, and assured that the company’s sports managers, like Mario Gómez and Jurgen Klopp, They are very enthusiastic about Parisian bets.

Both have confirmed that their long-term goal is to create a very good first division club that can play in European competitions, even if the Champions League is not necessary.

Klopp, former manager of Liverpool, will join Red Bull as global head of football in January. “I have talked to him several times and he’s very, very excited to work with us,” Arnault said.

Leader of Ligue 2

Ferracci explained that after fifteen years associated with the club, twelve of them as president and main shareholder, saw that if Paris FC rises to Ligue 1 (currently leading the classification of Ligue 2) “more powerful economic means” will be needed, and more than the current situation of financial crisis of French football, but at the same time he wanted to leave the entity in the hands of French ownership.

The deal, which will be legally closed at the end of the month, It marked the end of negotiations in April and the possible outcome was leaked last month to the French sports press.

Antoine Arnault is the second son of Bernard Arnault, patriarch and major shareholder of LVMH, with a personal fortune estimated at around 190,000 million euros.

Arnaults great rival owns Rennes

Paris FC is the current leader of Ligue 1 and one of the big favorites for promotion to the first division.

The great rival of the Arnaults in the world of luxury, The magnate François Pinault, owner of the Kering group, has been the owner of Rennes since 1998, although he did not inject large sums of money into the Breton club.

Arnaults movements are closely followed in France and the operation announced this Wednesday will open the hope that Paris can count on two great clubs with a European dimension.

Free ticket, doomed to disappear

Paris FC was founded in 1969 and plays in the small but attractive Sébastien Charléty stadium, in the southern tip of the French capital, with a capacity for 20,000 spectators.

For now, Admission to the stadium is freealthough Arnault suggested that if the club were to go up to Ligue 1 they would need to review that formula, with only part of the capacity free and the rest “very accessible”, with a more expensive part for to sponsors and their guests.

Two years of union with PSG

In 1970 it was merged with Stade Saint-Germain to form Paris Saint-Germain, but The union lasted only two years, because even that entity remained Paris FC regained its independence and its name in 1972 due to disagreements between managers.

The shield of Paris FC It is now a declaration of intentions, with the Eiffel tower on a boatwhich has been present since the Middle Ages in the coat of arms of Paris as a symbol of merchants who sailed along the Seine to other countries.