Column: While PSG thrives, French football drowns

FILE - In this Aug.16, 2014 file photo, Paris Saint Germain's Swedish Zlatan Ibrahimovic, kneels on the pitch after being injured, during a French League One soccer match, PSG against Bastia, at the Parc des Princes stadium, in Paris. Instead of catching up with the Premier League or the Bundesliga, a growing catalog of signs indicates that French Ligue 1 clubs _ with the exception of Qatari-owned Paris Saint-Germain _ are slipping further behind rivals in England, Germany, Spain and Italy. Russia, sinking hundreds of billions of rubles of public and private money into the 2018 World Cup and its football clubs, is also now snapping at France’s heels. Armed with an awesome collection of players, owners with seemingly bottomless pockets, and by far the biggest revenues and crowds of Ligue 1, PSG has quickly become a European force. But it could be a long, long time _ perhaps never _ before the likes of Marseille, Saint-Etienne, Monaco or Reims play another European Cup final. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File) FILE - In this Aug.16, 2014 file photo, Paris Saint Germain's Swedish Zlatan Ibrahimovic, kneels on the pitch after being injured, during a French League One soccer match, PSG against Bastia, at the Parc des Princes stadium, in Paris. Instead of catching up with the Premier League or the Bundesliga, a growing catalog of signs indicates that French Ligue 1 clubs _ with the exception of Qatari-owned Paris Saint-Germain _ are slipping further behind rivals in England, Germany, Spain and Italy. Russia, sinking hundreds of billions of rubles of public and private money into the 2018 World Cup and its football clubs, is also now snapping at France’s heels. Armed with an awesome collection of players, owners with seemingly bottomless pockets, and by far the biggest revenues and crowds of Ligue 1, PSG has quickly become a European force. But it could be a long, long time _ perhaps never _ before the likes of Marseille, Saint-Etienne, Monaco or Reims play another European Cup final. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

By Associated Press September 4, 2014 5 min read

PARIS (AP) – When billionaire investors bought Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco in 2011, it seemed like the dawn of a new era for French football, a chance for the puniest of Europe’s “Big 5” leagues to grow some financial and competitive muscle.

Pop! How quickly that bubble of optimism has burst.

Instead of catching up with the Premier League or the Bundesliga, a growing catalog of signs indicates that French clubs – with the exception of Qatari-owned PSG – are slipping further behind rivals in England, Germany, Spain and Italy. Russia, sinking hundreds of billions of rubles of public and private money into the 2018 World Cup and its football clubs, is also now snapping at France’s heels.

Armed with an awesome collection of players, owners with seemingly bottomless pockets, and by far the biggest revenues and crowds in France, PSG has quickly become a European force. But it could be a long time – perhaps never – before the likes of Marseille, Saint-Etienne, Monaco or Reims play another European Cup final.

“It is alarming,” France’s junior minister for sport, Thierry Braillard, said this week in an interview with The Associated Press. “Our problem is that there is a very big difference between Paris Saint-Germain and all the other teams.”