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#3 PSG went 19 years without a Ligue 1 title
PSG have bagged seven Ligue 1 titles in their last nine seasons. Only Monaco (2016-17) and last season’s champions Lille have bested them in the said period, convincingly proving the Parisians' dominance in the league.
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But do not be fooled by their recent exploits, as the story used to be a lot different before Qatar Sports Investments took over.
PSG had only won two Ligue 1 titles before Nasser Al-Khelaifi became president in 2011. PSG’s last win was in 1993-94 under Artur Jorge, before Carlo Ancelotti brought the trophy back to Paris in 2012-13, ending a 19-year drought.
#2 PSG refused to win the title in 1992-93
After TV giants Canal+ took over the club in 1991, they armed PSG to the teeth to fight for the Ligue 1 title. Thanks to their impressive roster and Artur Jorge’s tactics, PSG took the fight to the reigning champions Marseille.
Unfortunately, the club from the capital came up a little short in the end and were left ruing as Marseille won their fifth consecutive title.
Surprisingly, Marseille were found guilty of match-fixing at the end of the season and saw their Ligue 1 title stripped of by the French Football Federation. PSG, who came second in Ligue 1 in the 1992-93 campaign, were offered the chance to be crowned instead.
Despite not winning the title in seven years, PSG refused the honor, as Canal+ did not want to risk angering their subscribers in Marseille.
PSG also refused to take Marseille’s place in the Champions League next season. Third-placed Monaco ultimately stepped in to represent France in Europe for the 1993-94 season.
#1 Real Madrid contributed to PSG’s formation in 1970
Currently, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) are two fierce European rivals. However, about 50 years back, Los Blancos contributed heavily to the formation of the club from the French capital.
Surprisingly, France’s capital city Paris did not have a high-profile football club until 1970. So, in the summer of 1970, Guy Crescent and Pierre-Etienne Guyot decided to merge their newly-formed club Paris FC with Henri Patrelle’s Stade Saint-Germain.
The trio created Paris Saint-Germain but were having trouble expanding their operations due to limited funding.
Real Madrid president Santiago Bernabeu was excited by the idea of the new club and offered financial advice to Crescent, Guyot, and Patrelle. He advised them to start a crowdfunding campaign to ensure the feasibility of the project and that is exactly what they did.
Over 20000 people contributed to the project and Paris Saint-Germain was officially formed on August 12th, 1970.
