New campus “not the ending point but a starting point”

12 Mins Read

November 12, 2025

French football club and Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain has brought all their teams together in one single campus. They describe it as “a village”. Members of the European Stadium Safety Association (ESSMA) were granted the opportunity to see and experience what this means. They also got a sneak peak at the consequences of such an endeavour in terms of the fields and how they should be managed.

By: Guy Oldenkotte

Last season, PSG claimed the French league, the cup, the super cup as well as the UEFA Champions League. Its U19, both male and female, were also the champions in their leagues. Anybody who had hoped that this has satisfied the desires of the club in the last one-and-a-half decades, will be in for a hard reality check the moment they enter the campus.

“The new campus is not the ending point but a starting point,” Nicolas Ramillon, the club’s real estate director explained. PSG took possession of the site in November 2024. Early September 2025, ESSMA hosted its pitch management workshop at the location.

Terraced approach

The PSG campus is located to the west of Paris in an area that is sparsely developed. It is only 25 minutes away from its stadium and grants easy access to two major motorways, including one that heads straight to Charles de Gaulle (international) Airport. It sits on a 74-hectare site. “Some 59 hectares have been developed and divided into four areas: one area is for the logistics, one area is for the associations, one for the youth academy as well as one area for the professionals,” Ramillon pointed out. Architect Jean‑Michel Wilmotte and his firm Wilmotte & Associés won the tender to design the complex because of his idea to stage the complex in terraces. “His idea was to hide the buildings, which occupy 10% of the area, with the slope of the hills, and, at the same time, to inspire players to progress. Our youngest players train on the fields at the lowest level of the complex. The age category of 16-year-olds trains at the middle layer, while our main team practices at the highest level of the complex.”

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