Stade Malherbe Caen

Stade Malherbe Caen (French pronunciation: ​[stɑd malˈɛrb kɑ̃]; commonly referred to as SM Caen or simply Caen) is a professional French football team, playing in the city of Caen, Normandie. The club was founded on 17 November 1913 following the merger of Club Malherbe Caennais and Club Sportif Caennais. The team takes its name from Lycée Malherbe, named after François de Malherbe (1555–1628), a poet, critic and translator, who was a native of Caen.

For the longest part of its history, SM Caen remains one of the leading amateur club in France, playing upon its foundation at Stade de Venoix. The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the rise of Stade Malherbe into French football hierarchy. In 1985, Stade Malherbe adopted professional status. Three seasons later, it was promoted for the first time in first division. In 1992, several months after it was narrowly saved from bankruptcy, the club ends at fifth place of Division 1 and qualifies for the UEFA Cup. In 1993, the club moved to the modern Stade Michel d'Ornano, but was relegated two years later. Despite a second division title won in 1996, SM Caen quickly fell back into the anonymity of the second division.

Caen

Caen (/kɑːn/; French pronunciation: ​[kɑ̃]; Norman: Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department. The city proper has 108,365 inhabitants (as of 2012), while its urban area has 420,000, making Caen the largest city in former Lower Normandy. It is also the second largest municipality in all of Normandy after Le Havre and the third largest city proper in Normandy, after Rouen and Le Havre. The metropolitan area of Caen, in turn, is the second largest in Normandy after that of Rouen, the 21st largest in France.

It is located 15 km (9.3 mi) inland from the English Channel, two hours north-west of Paris, and connected to the south of England by the Caen-(Ouistreham)-Portsmouth ferry route. Caen is located in the centre of its northern region, and it is a centre of political, economic and cultural power. Located a few miles from the coast, the landing beaches, the bustling resort of Deauville and Cabourg, Norman Switzerland or Pays d'Auge, Caen is often considered the archetype of Normandy.

Paris Saint-Germain F.C.

Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (French pronunciation: ​[paʁi sɛ̃ ʒɛʁmɛ̃]), commonly referred to as PSG, is a French professional association football club based in Paris, whose first team play in the highest tier of French football, the Ligue 1. The team was formed in 1970 by the merger of Paris FC and Stade Saint-Germain.

Domestically, PSG have won five Ligue 1 titles, nine Coupe de France, a record five Coupe de la Ligue, five Trophée des Champions and the Ligue 2 title once. In international club football, the Parisian side have won one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and one UEFA Intertoto Cup. PSG is the joint-most successful club in France and one of only two French clubs (with Olympique de Marseille) to win a major European club competition.

The Parc des Princes has been the home stadium of PSG since 1974. The Camp des Loges has served as the club's training centre since 1970. The Tournoi de Paris has been hosted by the capital club at Le Parc since 1975. PSG shares an intense rivalry with Marseille and contest the most notorious football match in France, known as Le Classique. PSG is the second-highest supported football club in France after rivals Marseille.Qatar Sports Investments became the club's sole shareholder in 2012. The takeover made PSG the richest club in France and amongst the richest in the world.

Olympique de Marseille

Olympique de Marseille (French pronunciation: ​[ɔlɛ̃pik də maʁsɛj], locally [ɔlɛ̃ˈpikə də mɑχˈsɛjə]; also known as l'OM IPA: [lo.ɛm], locally [loˈɛmə]) or simply Marseille, is a French association football club based in Marseille.

Founded in 1899, the club play in Ligue 1 and have spent most of their history in the top tier of French football. Marseille have been French champions ten times (nine times in Ligue 1) and have won the Coupe de France a record ten times. In 1993, coach Raymond Goethals led the team to become the first and only French club to win the UEFA Champions League. In 1994, Marseille were relegated because of a bribery scandal, losing their domestic trophy, but not the Champions League title. In 2010, Marseille became French champions again under the stewardship of former club captain Didier Deschamps.

Marseille's home ground is the 67,000-person-capacity Stade Vélodrome located in the southern part of the city, where they have played since 1937. The Stade Vélodrome is renowned for its lively atmosphere. The club has a large fan-base, having regularly averaged the highest all-time attendance in French football. Marseille's average home gate for the 2008–09 season was 52,276, the highest in Ligue 1. The stadium underwent renovation in 2011, going from its previous capacity of 60,031 to 42,000. Following completion in August 2014, the final capacity is 67,000 ahead of France's hosting of UEFA Euro 2016. The club is ranked 16th globally in terms of annual revenue, generating €135.7 million in 2012.

Olympique Lyonnais

Olympique Lyonnais (French pronunciation: ​[ɔlɛ̃pik ljɔnɛ]; commonly referred to as simply Lyon, or OL) (Euronext: OLG) is a French football club based in Lyon. It plays in France's highest football division, Ligue 1. The club was formed as Lyon Olympique Universitaire in 1899, according to many supporters and sport historians, but was nationally established as a club in 1950. The club's most successful period has been the 21st century. The club won its first Ligue 1 championship in 2002, starting a national record-setting streak of seven successive titles. Lyon has also won a record seven Trophée des Champions, five Coupe de France titles and three Ligue 2 Championships.

Lyon has participated in the UEFA Champions League 12 times, and during the 2009–10 season, reached the semi-finals of the competition for the first time after three previous quarter-final appearances. Olympique Lyonnais plays its home matches at the 40,500-seat Stade de Gerland in Lyon. In 2015/2016, their new stadium will be ready, tentatively named OL Land, in Décines-Charpieu, a suburb of Lyon. The club's home colours are white, red and blue. Lyon was a member of the G14 group of leading European football clubs and are founder members of its successor, the European Club Association.