Adventures in Football #104: Stade Sebastien Charlety (Paris FC) 

 

May 10, 2024 

 

PARIS FC vs. GUINGAMP (Ligue 2)  

 

Bonjour!  

 

Recently, I took a trip to Paris with my wife Maria. It was an early wedding anniversary celebration and something Maria has wanted to do for a very long time. I feel bad that it’s taken us 15 years of marriage to get around to doing it but hey, some things are worth the wait. I was going to delve into the depths of this long weekend but honestly, a lot of it would be personal and I’m going to just leave it alone. Instead, we’ll get into the two games of football I caught in Paris that weekend.  

 

Starting with Paris FC, PSG’s little bastard step-brother. Originally my intent was to catch PSG vs. Toulouse on the Sunday night but after being quoted some extortionate prices (around 160 Euro per ticket, for the cheap seats) we went with Plan B. Paris FC are up the top end of Ligue 2 and we could even get a Paris derby next season if they can navigate the play offs. As with PSG, Paris FC have very little history and have only existed since the early 1970s.  

They play out of the Stade Sebastien Charlety. A multi-purpose stadium with an enormous blue running track around the outside of it. We had loads of time so took a gentle stroll there from our hotel. It was much closer than the Parc des Princes. It sits in a quiet surburban area in the thirteenth arrondissement. It seats 20,000 and clearly Paris FC are struggling to fill it, as they were offering free tickets to the game. I felt bad about depriving locals of seats and paid for the 25 Euro seats, which, in retrospect, I regret intensely as they were shite.  

On approaching the ground we spotted the floodlights first, as you often do approaching a ground. Maria has learned over the years that floodlights are a good sign. Oh, incidentally, this is the first time we’ve been to football together in mainland Europe. She was quite excited. Here’s the floodlight view, from a distance. Given the underside tent style of the roof, I think this qualifies as floodlight porn.  

We rock up at the ground just as the Ultra’s are about to pile through the main gates. We hang back to witness them flooding through. Apparently immune to the same searches that everyone else has to go through. How else would they get the flares in? Having located my tickets, and got the girl on the gate to scan both (confirming that “deuxième” was, in fact, the correct term to use when I ordered tickets in Luxembourg), we were in. There was a festival atmosphere, and we watched some children and their auntie try to kick a football through a window in a Soccer AM-style game. 

Heading into the actual concourse was a little intimidating as burly French ultras were hanging around the entrances. They looked a bit tipsy and perhaps were posted to keep an eye on who was entering the ground. It was a weird atmosphere and then suddenly it wasn’t. We broke through and were just wandering around the concourse area, which has a great view of the pitch. I should have watched the game from there. 

I check in on Futbology to reveal my latest glorious badge; a tenth country that I’ve now seen a football game in. Considering I started my groundhopping adventures post-Covid, this is one of my favourite achievements. Ten countries. My original aim was to do the 92 and now I just want to see football in as many countries and odd places as possible.  

Enjoying Paris FC immediately, I even considered getting some merch from the van some garlic chomper has literally driven into the stadium. Wait, what’s that licence plate? England – fuck you? Damn. I still prefer them to PSG.  

We get down to our seats, following the instructions of the steward, which were in French, and I understood, we discover row A is literally the front row. For the second time in my groundhopping career, I’ve accidentally booked front row. The last time was Cheltenham and since then I’ve always looked at the ‘direction of pitch’. For these seats I literally asked for “best available” and the website’s algorhythm seems to think this is ‘the best’. It’s not. Given how bad the view is, it’s arguably the worst available. Unless you want to beg for players shirts. Anyway, if it wasn’t for the shit running track space, this would be an awesome stadium.  

A glance to my left reveals a) Maria going live on Facebook with a video of the ground and b) is that the long jump? Now that, my friends, would be a goal celebration. I love how open the ground is at the top. Allowing views of trees rather than a concrete wall. It would be a phenomenal stadium to watch athletics in. I’ve never been to a stadium with a running track, and I am not a fan of them, for football. Despite this, the stadium looks wonderful. From a design point of view, it’s brilliant. I love just looking at the ground.  

My expenditure on seats hasn’t given us a good view but it has given us the most comfortable seats I’ve ever sat in. They don’t flip up, so it’s tough if someone wants to pass us, but they are padded as hell. Like, really comfortable. These are the kind of seats you pay extra for in the big clubs. The elite seats for the nobs. Half the people down here are wearing Paris FC berets. Yes, berets. 

You can see a few in this early shot of the Paris FC ultras in action. This was a lively bunch of fans. Pre-match I warned Maria that all French supporters were “nutters” and I have not amended my opinion after a weekend of watching these mad bastards in action. The Guingamp supporters, which I failed to take a picture of, are fenced off in their own section on the other side. There were not very many of them. Away support hasn’t quite caught on in France yet.  

Before the players come out the guy next to me asks me when kick-off is. I try and reply and discover my English accent betrays me. Also, my complete inability to speak French. I make immediate friends with my neighbour, who asks why I’ve come to watch Paris FC and not PSG. I consider it impolite to say, “fuck PSG”, especially as he’s taking his grandson to his first game of football tonight. He chats to me for 20-30 minutes before kick-off and it’s a great conversation. One of several I enjoyed with complete strangers in Paris. Considering the city’s reputation for grumpiness, I was shocked. It’s bullshit. I’ve been lied to about stereotypes my whole life, but this one is the biggest. The Paris folk I met were warm and lovely and full of jour de vivre.  

They’re also fanatical about football and have a passion for it that’s almost unparalleled. The closest I’ve seen is in Italy, where football is more religion than sport. It’s a close run thing as to which fanbase is more intense. The game hasn’t even started at this point. I’m still chatting to my neighbour who reveals his son used to play for both Paris FC and Guingamp. Divided loyalties. During the game, he constantly asked me if I thought the standard of play was good and nodded happily when I said it was.  

Bonjour, Girafel! Paris FC’s mascot is a lively blue giraffe, who happily gets the crowd fired up. The design on the costume is somewhat lacking but his enthusiasm was infectious. The fucker got right in our faces! Look at him!  

 

Meanwhile, away from these distractions, is the game itself, which does not disappoint. It’s a good, spirited contest between two solid teams. Both creating lots and lots of half chances. Vincent Marchetti is a stand-out for the home team. He creates the opening goal for Nouha Dicko (formally of Wolves), who fires home the opener. 1-0 Paris. Play offs bound! The crowd amazingly erupting into the “Your defence is terrified” for Dicko, only it’s “Paris on fire”. It’s a fucking party atmosphere in here. I am loving it. Maria is loving it. Will Grigg is loving it.  

At half-time they set off a bunch of fireworks, which is appreciated and applauded by the pyro loving ultras. I saw a Paris FC sticker the next day in a park, and it read “no pyro, no party”. Amen, frères.  

As the second half kicks off we get more varied celebrations from the home fans, who switch to these banners with the faces on. Wait till you see what these fellas have lined up. I wish I could have seen it from a better angle. Paris are rubbish in the second half but break loose down the right and Dicko finishes a chance of his own creation for 2-0. Essentially game over.  

The goal is met by blue smoke bombs, which cover the entire stand in that acrid smell that you only get from pyro. You can see how much the locals are enjoying it. Ignore the guy with the steely gaze in the middle there, he’s a Guingamp fan. Paris then break at will on Guingamp, creating chance after chance and a third goal looks to have killed it off completely until it’s hauled back for offside.  

With the game effectively over, this huge flag drops down and they light two flares to represent burning red eyes. I’m pretty sure the whole thing is going to catch fire and burn down the stand. While the celebrations rage on Guingamp get a free kick on the edge of the box and convert it deep into stoppage time. 2-1. Merghem. It’s all over though and as we try to leave, along with my neighbour and his young grandson, more fans keep piling forward to greet the players. Eventually we clamber over some seats to get out and no one else has left. I know it’s the last home game of the season, but I’ve never seen anything like this.  

Maybe I’m underestimating the importance of this game, and this season, to Paris FC. I certainly wasn’t expecting the level of support this club has. It was a joy to behold. We head outside and into the night, with the sound of the ultra’s still singing making its way out into the Parisienne evening air. Oh, Paris FC, what an experience this was. We’re halfway to the metro and you can still hear the singing.  

 

FINAL SCORE: PARIS FC 2 GUINGAMP 1 

 

Let’s give Paris FC some scores to see how they stack up to the other fine clubs I’ve visited this season shall we?  

 

ATMOSPHERE: 

Genoa is my benchmark for football fans. It may always be. They started singing around 30 minutes before kick-off and didn’t stop until the game was over. Paris FC kept going after the game was finished. They didn’t have the numbers that Genoa have, nor the staggering displays with scarves and pyro but, considering their numbers, they are fucking full boat lads. Five stars. ***** 

 

COST: 

I paid to get in. I didn’t have to. In retrospect, I should have taken advantage of the club’s free ticket policy, which is bolstering a fanbase for the future. Free tickets though? ***** 

 

QUALITY: 

It was certainly a good game of football. It wasn’t great and while lots of half chances were created, it was not helped by poor decisions and some of the play was lacking. Especially from Paris from 45-65′. They were shite. *** 

 

EASE OF ACCESS: 

Paris has great public transport and it’s real easy to get into and out of Stade Sebastian Charlety. It’s closer to central Paris than Parc des Princes, even if that’s closer to the main tourism spots (Eiffel Tower, etc). **** 

 

MISC: 

This is tough. The running track means we’re not getting over three stars here. It’s just not possible. The kind of restriction of view is unacceptable regardless of everything else. It was a shit view. If play came over to the near side, I couldn’t even see the ball. Or anything below players waists. That said, the ground is absolutely stunning and looks fantastic. So, we’ll go with ***. The most a running track ground can get. 

 

OVERALL: 20 

And holy shit, the final weekend of the season delivers my favourite ground of the entire season. If this ground had no running track around it, it would be damn near flawless. It’s so good that if Mike, or someone else, suggested going to it I’d tag along and go a second time. It was that good of an experience.  

 

Paris touched me in ways I was not ready for. It’s never been on my bucket list. It’s never been somewhere I cared about in the slightest. Having been there, I can only say that it’s magic. Maybe my expectations were low, but it might be one of my favourite cities. Paris FC was part of that. A glorious young family, eager to bust heads and make waves and shake up the structure of French football.  

 

Paris FC 

 

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