The Parc des Princes, a stadium with a past brimming with incident, lives up to the reputation of Paris, the city of lights.
For a quarter of a century, from 1972 to1998, the Parc de Princes was the national stadium for the French football and rugby teams who carved out some of French sport’s most glorious passages. It now compares with those stadia ranked as mythical because of their sporting memoirs but also because of its reputation as an electrifying arena which could sometimes suffocate adversaries of the Tricolores. There can be no bigger contrast with the nearby park created by Louis-Philippe in the Bois de Boulogne as a promenade for idle princes.
First championship final in 1902
Before being rebuilt in its current configuration with a capacity of 48,527 and opened on 4 June 1972 for the French football Cup final in which Marseille beat Bastia 2-1, the Parc des Princes first saw light of day in 1897 as a cycling velodrome with a 20,000 capacity. Six years later it provided the finish for the very first Tour de France cycling race. Before that, on 23 March 1902, Racing Club de France beat Stade Bordelais 6-0 in the French rugby championship final, and then New Zealand arrived to crush France 38-8 on New Year’s Day 1906. But the Parc des Princes was not the favourite stamping ground for the Bleus who preferred Colombes, despite renovations carried out in 1931 to stage two matches in the 1938 World Cup soccer finals.
A quarter-century of exploits
It was only from the 1970s that the Parc built its legend with some memorable events, such as the European Championship triumph of Michel Platini’s France on 27 June 1984. The French XV set up home there from 1973, with an inaugural 16-13 defeat at the hands of Scotland, and won the Five Nations tournament seven times. For many players the Parc epitomised the peak of their career as they went up to Paris to try to claim the Bouclier de Brennus French championship shield. Beziers, led by Richard Astre, won the first final played at Paris’ Porte d’Auteil in May 1974 when they overcame the Narbonne of the Spanghéro brothers 16-14. It was the Parc’s first final since1946. Twenty three years and as many finals later Stade Toulousain completed the last lap of honour as champions ... a happier exit than France’s who had been thrashed 52-10 by South Africa in November 1997 for their adieu.
The Stade de France® took over as national stadium from the 1998 World Cup soccer finals, but the Parc remains the home ground of Paris Saint-Germain football club who have been there since 1973. But that does not prevent rugby showing up occasionally when Stade Français Paris look for a bigger stage, as in the 2001 European Rugby Cup final against Leicester. The next big rendez-vous is the 2007 RWC when five matches, including the Third Place Play-Off will be staged.
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