Paris Saint-Germain is the most popular football club in France and one of the most widely supported teams in the world. Lacking a big passionate fanbase, the club began offering cheaper season tickets to young supporters in There, the club's first Italian-style ultra group, Boulogne Boys, was founded in Other KoB groups, however, took British hooligans as dubious role models and violence rapidly escalated. PSG supporters' groups have been linked to football hooliganism ever since.
The Virage Auteuil was born, alongside Supras Auteuil, its most notorious ultras. At first the measure worked but, slowly, a violent rivalry arose between the two stands. Things came to a head in before a match against Le Classique arch-rivals Marseille in Paris.
Boulogne fan Yann Lorence was killed following a fight between groups from both stands outside the Parc des Princes, forcing PSG president Robin Leproux to take action. The club exiled the supporters' groups from the Parc des Princes and banned them from all PSG matches in what was known as Plan Leproux.
It made PSG pay the price in terms of atmosphere, with one of Europe's most feared venues now subdued. In October , after a six-year absence, the club agreed to their return. The ultra movement has also started to come back to life in the Boulogne stand. The Parc des Princes has been the home stadium of the capital club since July It was the beginning of a tradition that still stands today. The turning point, however, was the club's launch of subscription plan Young PSG Supporters in , placing its subscribers in the K section, the first fan-dedicated space at the Parc.
United under a bulldog's head on top of the French flag, the KoB was mainly composed of three types of fans: [ 24 ] Italian-style ultras e. Members of Boulogne Boys left the group in and created Gavroches that same year. At the beginning of the s, Paris Saint-Germain were enjoying their worst attendance record since returning to Ligue 1 in The violence and racism in the Kop of Boulogne took the blame for this situation.
