in an effort to re-launch professional football in the city of paris, paris football club was founded on 1 august 1969. the objective of the club was to be playing in the first division by 1970. an attempted merger with cs sedan ardennes was refused so paris went looking in the second division and, subsequently, merged with to form paris saint-germain, the professional club that plays in ligue 1. the current incarnation of paris fc came into being in 1972 when the club split from paris saint-germain after coming under pressure from the capital city's mayor, who refused to support a non-parisian club (the club had originally been situated in nearby saint-germain-en-laye). as a result, a bitter split occurred and both paris fc and paris saint-germain remained as separate football club with the main agreement being that paris fc had the right to keep the splitting entity's first division and professional status, as well as all the professional players. paris saint-germain were, on the other hand, administratively relegated to the third division and given all the former entity's amateur players.