The French capital laid on a hero’s welcome for Paris Saint-Germain players on Sunday as they marked their second straight Champions League title, yet the celebrations unfolded against a backdrop of bitter recriminations after a night of unrest left hundreds arrested, dozens of police injured, and two people dead across France. Tens of thousands of flag-waving fans lined the route from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport to the Champ-de-Mars plaza in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, where the team paraded following their 4-3 penalty shoot-out victory over Arsenal in Budapest on Saturday night. PSG had secured back-to-back European crowns after defeating Inter Milan in 2025, and the squad was also received by President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace before returning to the Parc des Princes for a final encounter with supporters.
But the triumph was overshadowed by violence that erupted almost immediately after the final whistle. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 780 people were arrested nationwide, nearly a third more than during disturbances after PSG’s first title win last year, with looting reported in around 15 cities. In Paris alone, 57 police officers and 219 “participants” were injured, eight critically. One man died riding his motorbike around the Paris ring road in celebration, and a 17-year-old boy was stabbed to death in Dax during street parties. Authorities also reported stabbings, fireworks fired at officers, cars and rental bikes torched, bus shelters smashed, and shopfronts vandalized along the Champs-Élysées, which the 8th arrondissement’s town hall described as having “ceased to be a place of celebration and became an arena of urban guerrilla warfare.”
Municipal workers rushed Sunday morning to clear broken glass, wrecked trash cans, and burned-out vehicles before the team’s return. President Macron condemned the violence as “unspeakable,” saying PSG were an “immense pride” for France but that the country was “fed up” with such unrest. “We will be ruthless with those who have been caught,” he vowed. Nunez promised a strong law enforcement response during the players’ return celebrations and fines for obstructing traffic, while nearly 6,000 police and gendarmes were deployed for security on Sunday.
The disorder revived France’s heated debate about street violence, with far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen declaring, “Only in France does a victory of a football club trigger riots.” Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire countered that such incidents were nothing new, though the district mayor of the 8th arrondissement called for “zero gatherings” on the Champs-Élysées as the only way to avoid further violence. Despite the recriminations, the victory parade proceeded as planned, with the players lifting the trophy on a red, white and blue stage before more than 40,000 fans at the Champ-de-Mars, turning a day of political finger-pointing into an uneasy celebration of PSG’s historic back-to-back Champions League triumph.
