Paris Saint-Germain Judo, commonly known as PSG Judo, is a French professional judo club based in the city of Paris in France. It is the judo department of Paris Saint-Germain. Having already existed between 1992 and 2003, the club was refounded in 2017. Their home ground is the CMG Dojo, located inside the CMG Sports Club One Italie complex. It houses the club's youth system, the Paris Saint-Germain Judo School, as well as high level training facilities for the club's professional judokas.
First established in September 1992 on the initiative of former judoka Thierry Rey and with the financial support of then Paris Saint-Germain owners Canal+, PSG Judo was the first section of the club to win a continental trophy. Led by star judokas David Douillet, Cécile Nowak, Djamel Bouras and Frédéric Demontfaucon, the Parisian team clinched the European Cup in 1995 and the French 1st Division Senior Championships in 1997. After that, however, the club experienced a steep decline, leading to Canal+'s disengagement in 2002 before finally cutting ties all together with PSG in 2003 and continuing life as Paris Judo under new owners Lagardère Group.
Driven by Djamel Bouras, who was part of the section's original iteration, PSG Judo was officially refounded on September 1, 2017. Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi announced the news through a press release. He also confirmed the signing of French judoka star Teddy Riner as the figurehead of the project, while Djamel Bouras and Nicolas Mossion were appointed president and head coach, respectively. Initially a male-only project, PSG Judo ended up being a mixed-gender team.
Since their comeback, both PSG's male and female teams have enjoyed domestic and European success. The men's side, spearheaded by Teddy Riner, Alpha Oumar Djalo and Luca Otmane, won the French 2nd Division Senior Championships in 2019, the French 1st Division Senior Championships in 2021 and the Europa League in 2021. Likewise, Romane Dicko, Marie-Ève Gahié and Amandine Buchard carried the women's outfit to victory in the 2021 French 1st Division Senior Championships and the 2021 Europa League, allowing PSG Judo to become the first club to achieve the male-female double at both national and international level.
History
Creation and inaugural season
After basketball and handball, Paris Saint-Germain and owners Canal+ set their sights on judo. Alliance 77, a club based in Lagny, was chosen to become PSG's judo section and Canal+ acquired it in September 1992. Created a year earlier after bringing together several Parisian clubs, Alliance 77 was the brainchild of its president Thierry Rey, a former judoka and 1980 Olympic champion turned judo consultant on Canal+. Olympic gold medalist and world champion Cécile Nowak, Laurence Sionneau and Karine Petit joined the women's side, while French international judokas Nasser Néchar, Philippe Démarche and Bertrand Amoussou-Guenou were the big signings of the men's outfit.
The recruitment was promising and it allowed PSG to be at the forefront of French judo during their inaugural 1993 season, in the company of Orléans. In February 1993, Rey and PSG organized the 22nd edition of the Grand Slam Paris at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin, welcoming the elite of world judo and fielding nine of the club's judokas. The next step of the project was to sign a big name, and David Douillet, the greatest hope of French judo, was the obvious choice. Licensed to fellow Parisian club Maisons-Alfort, his arrival was formalized in October 1993. Douillet's impact was immediate, leading PSG to victory in a friendly tournament at Boulogne-Billancourt in November 1993.
Nowak's retirement and European Cup winners
The 1994 season began with a final challenge for Cécile Nowak. Aged 26, she decided to put an end to her career after the French team championships in Reims in January. The club's female side finished in third place, while the men's team were beaten by Orléans in the final. In March 1994, as part of president Thierry Rey's jubilee, PSG won the Capitals tournament ahead of German outfit Abensberg, confirming their continental ambitions. The male squad, despite the absence of star David Douillet in the first two rounds, had a good run in the European Cup. Douillet's return for the semifinals against Berlin in Lagny didn't bode well, though; he was defeated for the first time in two and a half years as PSG crashed out of the competition.