Champions League

This Luis Enrique fact about PSG feels almost too weird to be real

PSG’s surprisingly recent origins create a bizarre fact involving their manager that almost never happens in European soccer.

Sarah Meyssonnier

Roddy Cons

Digital sports journalist

Scottish sports journalist and content creator. After running his own soccer-related projects, in 2022 he joined Diario AS, where he mainly reports on the biggest news from around Europe’s leading soccer clubs, Liga MX and MLS, and covers live games in a not-too-serious tone. Likes to mix things up by dipping into the world of American sports.

Update: May 6th, 2026 15:05 EDT

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The vast majority of Europe’s elite-level soccer clubs have been around for a long, long time. Manchester United were founded as Newton Heath in 1878, changing to their current moniker in 1902, the same year Real Madrid formed. In between, Arsenal (1886), Liverpool (1892), Manchester City (1894), Barcelona (1899) and Bayern Munich (1900) all took their first steps. Paris Saint-Germain, however, are very much the exception.

Things that are older than PSG, including Luis Enrique

JFK was assassinated, Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon, and the Beatles got together, recorded 213 songs, released 13 studio albums and broke up, all before PSG were founded. The English band officially split in April 1970, four months before Paris FC and Stade Saint-Germain merged to form PSG.

And incredibly, in a European soccer context at least, that makes the club younger than their current manager, Luis Enrique. The former Barcelona coach was born on May 8, 1970, exactly 96 days before his employers came into being on August 12 that year.

Ready for another battle! ⚔️#FCBPSG I #UCL pic.twitter.com/ngqLnATwuc
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) May 6, 2026

A rare case in European soccer

Given just how long ago almost every professional soccer club in Europe was founded, that makes PSG and Luis Enrique an incredibly rare case. In the Champions League, Danish side FC Copenhagen, established in 1992 following a similar merger, and Russian club Krasnodar, founded in 2008, are other examples that are few and far between.

PSG’s rapid evolution

Although PSG have become the dominant force in France and a powerhouse in Europe over the last 15 years or so, that was not always the case before their current owners, Qatar Sports Investments, got involved with the club in 2011.

Between their foundation in 1970 and QSI taking full control in 2012, PSG won only two league titles in France and had just one major European trophy to their name, the 1995-96 Cup Winners’ Cup.

PSG and Luis Enrique: timelines that converge

Coincidentally, their emergence as one of world soccer’s most powerful clubs coincided with the start of Luis Enrique’s managerial career at the top level in 2011, with both becoming mainstays at the elite European level ever since. The two are inextricably linked, almost exactly from birth.