Paris celebrates 50 years of Ligue 1 football

50 years ago today, Les Parisiens travelled to Sochaux for their first game back in the French top flight – a level at which they have remained ever since.

On Friday 2nd August 1974, Les Parisiens headed to Sochaux's Stade Bonal for their opening game of the league season without midfielders Albert Poli, who was suffering from an adductor muscle injury, and Mustapha Dahleb, who was ineligible pending François M'Pelé's application for French citizenship. Paris were also meant to make their Division 1 return at home, but the Parc des Princes pitch was undergoing repairs at the time.

Paris's first chance of the match came in the fifth minute, when captain Jean-Pierre Dogliani fired a shot off target, but despite further attempts from Christian André and Dogliani again around the half-hour mark, the score remained 0-0 at the break. In the second half, Paris kept pushing, and in the final quarter of an hour, both Dogliani and Denis Bauda spurned glorious opportunities to score within a minute of each other, before the deadlock was finally broken by André, who escaped from his marker and beat Eugène Battmann with a powerful shot in the 79th minute.

Paris goalkeeper Ilija Pantelić was one of the key men behind his side's opening-day victory, having denied both Pierre Lechantre in the first half and Jan Klijnjan in the second half. Meanwhile, Just Fontaine, the capital club's manager, was delighted with the win: "We respect everyone, but we fear no one. Whatever the result, we'll be happy if we put on a good show and entertain the fans."

Even back then, though, nothing was ever simple for Paris Saint-Germain; after the game, Sochaux lodged a complaint with the match delegate as Dogliani had been carrying a suspension from the end of the previous season but played anyway after receiving a presidential pardon from Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who had been elected to lead France during the intervening off-season. Paris would eventually pick up the full two points for their win on 2nd April 1975, exactly eight months after the original encounter, following several appeals from Sochaux as well as the Conseil d'État's final decision on the matter.

Since that win away to Sochaux, Paris have never been relegated from the French top flight, meaning that they have enjoyed the longest stay in the division of any team in the country. Ici c'est Paris !

SOCHAUX 0-1 PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN (0-0 at HT)
1974–1975 Division 1 – Matchday 1
Stade Bonal (Sochaux, France)

Goals: André (79') for Paris Saint-Germain.

SOCHAUX: Battmann – Dufour, Seleš, Wassmer, Posca – Piasecki, Guttierez, Klijnjan – Soler (Maier, 77'), Garnier, Lechantre. Coach: Paul Barret.

PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN: Pantelić – Bauda, Novi, Renaut, Cardiet – Laposte, Deloffre, Dogliani – Floch, M’Pelé, André. Coach: Just Fontaine / Robert Vicot.

Referee: Jean-Marie Meeus.

Attendance: approx. 7,000.