Granting Paris the luxury of a soccer rivalry

Red Star romantics

But there is another side to Paris's soccer identity just across the Peripherique, the ring road that separates Paris from its suburbs.

Red Star in Saint Ouen, home of the famous flea market where the fictional gentleman super-thief Arsene Lupin is based in the eponymous Netflix series, has a loyal left-wing and hipster following in the same mold as St Pauli in Germany.

The club won the French Cup five times between 1921 and 1942, but these days is fighting to stay in Ligue 2, while dreaming of a return to the top division, which it last graced half a century ago.

Red Star represents the Seine-Saint-Denis department, dubbed "the 93" for its postcode, and known for its large immigrant population, poverty and soccer.

"I think football's future is in the suburbs, in the 93," said Paris soccer supremo Sandjak.

"That is where football's heart is. We are the number one region, but the number one department within the number one region is the 93."

Red Star's great hero is Rino Della Negra, a legendary striker and son of immigrants who became a communist French resistance fighter during World War II, before being executed by the Germans in 1944.

But, of late, their Paris FC rival has taken to taunting them for the growing number of "Bobos" — French slang for Bourgeois Bohemians — from within Paris now found on the terraces.

"We are the club of artists, laborers, young people, old people, and that is what is great about it. We are a multicultural club," Red Star general manager Pauline Gamerre told reporters.

"This is one of the biggest clubs in France. We have won things, there is an identity, a feeling of belonging."

But, for all its romantic and egalitarian rhetoric, Red Star fans do not have a say in how their club is run, and many are deeply unhappy with its owners.

In 2022, a takeover by a private equity group from the United States, 777 Partners, drew criticism from France's firebrand left-wing politician Jean-Luc Melenchon. When the new owner was unable to repay a debt to US insurance firm A-Cap, one of its investors, the company took control of Red Star.

"We can all be quite idealistic, but there is also an economic reality," admitted Gamerre when asked about fans' opposition to the owners.

Gamerre believes Red Star can go on to become "a solid Ligue 1 club", setting up a derby to savor with the city's soccer aristocracy at PSG.

But, for now, there are no saviors in sight.

Paris FC, however, has the Arnaults and Red Bull, and promotion in their sights. Only time will tell if their wealthy backers will really give them wings.

AFP