Mega-rich PSG blasted for ‘pathetic’ intern salary offer

Zalatan Ibrahimovic

The mega-wealthy French club Paris Saint-Germain might have no spending limits when buying players but it seems their budgets are a little tighter when it comes to paying interns.

The big spending club was accused of being stingy on Wednesday for offering a six-month, post-university internship in the PR department at a monthly salary of only 436 euros.

This is from a club which, since being bought out by billionaire Qatari investors in 2011, has splashed out over €200 million on players, including €23 million on star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic in July.

PSG drew stern criticism from several French politicians when it emerged they were paying the Sweden international an eye-watering annual salary of around €14 million – which works out to around 2675 times as much as the intern, whose job it will be to promote him and the club.

Although low-paid internships are common in France, even at multi-national companies, the stark contrast between PSG’s investment in players and their interns has angered some.

“It’s pathetic to see a club, which is able to pay players more than one million euros per month, is not even prepared to offer the minimum wage for interns”, said Manuel Domergue, from Sauvons Les Riches (Save the Rich), an ironically named activist group which regularly stages stunts to protest against excessive wealth and poverty.

France’s minimum wage is set around 1,425 euros a month, or 9.4 euros per hour.

Sauvons Les Riches will demonstrate their contempt for the Parisian club by hosting a symbolic football match on Wednesday between the interns of PSG and their counterparts at arch rivals Marseille.

The match was due to take place in front of the landmark club shop on the Champs Elysées just hours before the clubs face each other in a League Cup tie across town at PSG’s Parc Des Princes.

At the time of publication PSG had not responded to FRANCE 24's questions over the internship proposal.

(FRANCE24.com)