Paris St. Germain Dir General Jean-Claude Blanc revealed the Parisian club hopes to become "a large multi-sport club" in the mold of FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, according to L'EQUIPE. After purchasing the football club "and spending millions in a year and a half," owner Qatar Sports Investments has begun investing in the handball club from the capital. The handball squad has gone from being a possible relegation candidate to a "favorite in the league." In the future, "it is not only these two sports that are concerned by these new massive investments." PSG could soon "attack basketball, for example." Blanc said, "The idea of quickly building a large multi-sport club is part of the PSG project. We believe Paris deserves a big club. If we look for equivalents in Europe, we can be similar to the big Spanish clubs" (L'EQUIPE, 9/11). SOCCEREX.com wrote that PSG has signaled its intention to create a sporting empire modeled after FC Barcelona and Real Madrid "in the latest demonstration of its growing ambition." The investments in the handball team are part of the "initial phase of a bid to develop a multi-sport entity around the PSG brand, and could also see the launch of a basketball club" (SOCCEREX.com, 9/12).
