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Bid for second Paris club

French billionaire and LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault has partnered with Red Bull to enter exclusive negotiations over buying Paris FC.

Agache, the holding company of France’s richest man Arnault, is in discussions over purchasing a majority stake in the French club. Red Bull is advising Agache and is also in negotiations to buy a minority stake.

Paris FC’s men’s side are top of Ligue 2 and last competed in Ligue 1 in 1979. The women’s team are fourth in Division One Feminine and reached the group stages of last season’s Champions League. The club was initially part of a merger when Paris Saint-Germain formed in 1970, but they split from the club two years later and re-established themselves as a separate entity.

PSG are the only club from the French capital competing in Ligue 1 — in contrast, London has seven top-flight men’s sides this season and Madrid five.

Since 2020, Paris FC have been 20 per cent owned by by the Kingdom of Bahrain, who also act as the club’s main sponsors.

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