PSG Forced Out of Parc des Princes Due to Heat Damage

Paris St-Germain have been forced out of their own home by the summer heat.

The French champions will no longer open their Ligue 1 title defence at the Parc des Princes after “exceptional heatwaves” left the pitch “severely damaged”. Their first game, scheduled for Sunday against Rennes in Paris, has been reversed and will now be played in Brittany.

An inspection by Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) officials ruled the surface unfit. The league said the state of the pitch “did not allow the match to be played under satisfactory conditions, particularly with regard to the safety and physical integrity of the players”. In simple terms: the grass could not be trusted.

PSG have confirmed the Parc des Princes surface will be completely relaid before their next home match, against Monaco on 4 September. The club said it “fully understand[s] the inconvenience caused by this change” but underlined that it was dealing with an “exceptional situation”.

The word “exceptional” is not an exaggeration. On 24 June, France recorded its hottest day ever on average across the country. Paris touched almost 41C, while half the nation fell under a red heat alert. The human cost was stark: between 22 and 28 June, deaths in France rose by 2,025 compared with normal levels – nearly a 30% increase. In the Paris region alone, deaths jumped by 62% over the same period.

Those temperatures have scorched western Europe all summer, fuelling wildfires across parts of France and pushing infrastructure to breaking point. Football has not escaped.

In Spain, Celta Vigo had to postpone their La Liga opener against Osasuna earlier this month after a fungal “disease” ravaged the pitch at the Estadio de Balaidos. A persistent spell in which temperatures failed to drop below 25C for more than three weeks created ideal conditions for fungus to spread and destroy the turf.

Now PSG, one of Europe’s richest clubs, find themselves shunted away from their own stadium by the same brutal climate. The title defence will still begin. Just not in Paris, and not on their own grass.