# 2004–05 Paris Saint-Germain FC season

The 2004–05 season was Paris Saint-Germain's 35th season in existence. PSG played their home league games at the Parc des Princes in Paris, registering an average attendance of 35,369 spectators per match. The club was presided by Francis Graille until 2 May 2005, when Pierre Blayau became the new president. The team was coached by Vahid Halilhodžić until 8 February 2005, when Laurent Fournier replaced him. José-Karl Pierre-Fanfan was the team captain.

## Season summary

The season before, PSG had won the Coupe de France and finished second in Ligue 1, just three points away from title glory. However, manager Vahid Halilhodžić's second season at the club was not a success. From their opening Champions League group stage 0–3 home loss to Chelsea, to their poor domestic form, PSG never looked like replicating the winning form of the previous season. Going into the final round of Champions League group stage fixtures in December, the team still had a chance of advancing to the knockout stage. The club, however, suffered a disappointing 1–3 defeat at home, courtesy of a Sergei Semak hat-trick, which meant straight elimination from Europe. It was a bitter loss that even prompted club president Francis Graille to publicly relay his disappointment at the "lack of pride" shown by the squad, though remaining guardedly coy when explicitly asked about Halilhodžić's future at the club.
With only domestic competition to worry about, PSG began 2005 looking to improve its league standing. Sluggish form continued, however, and on 8 February, following a 2–0 home defeat versus Lens that saw PSG drop to 12th, the club's management decided to sack Halilhodžić. He was replaced by the coach of the reserves team, Laurent Fournier, under whom the club eventually finished ninth in the league.
Following the conclusion of the season, Sochaux's Guy Lacombe was appointed as manager.

## Players

    As of the 2004–05 season.

### Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | FRA | Lionel Letizi |
| 2 | DF | FRA | Stéphane Pichot |
| 5 | DF | FRA | Bernard Mendy |
| 6 | DF | COL | Mario Yepes |
| 7 | MF | FRA | Fabrice Pancrate |
| 8 | FW | BRA | Reinaldo |
| 9 | FW | POR | Pauleta |
| 10 | MF | SCG | Branko Bošković |
| 11 | MF | RUS | Sergei Semak |
| 13 | MF | TUN | Hocine Ragued |
| 14 | MF | FRA | Édouard Cissé |
| 16 | GK | FRA | Jérôme Alonzo |
| 17 | DF | CMR | Jean-Hugues Ateba |
| 18 | MF | TUN | Selim Benachour |
| 19 | MF | ALB | Lorik Cana |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 20 | DF | POR | Hélder |
| 21 | MF | POR | Filipe Teixeira |
| 22 | DF | FRA | Sylvain Armand |
| 23 | MF | CMR | Modeste M'bami |
| 24 | DF | FRA | José-Karl Pierre-Fanfan (captain) |
| 25 | MF | FRA | Jérôme Rothen |
| 26 | DF | FRA | Jean-Michel Badiane |
| 27 | MF | MTQ | Charles-Édouard Coridon |
| 28 | FW | SCG | Danijel Ljuboja |
| 30 | GK | ALG | Mohamed Benhamou |
| 33 | DF | CIV | Sol Bamba |
| 35 | GK | FRA | Nicolas Cousin |
| — | DF | SEN | Boukary Dramé |
| — | DF | FRA | Youness Bengelloun |
| — | MF | FRA | Rudy Haddad |

### Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 11 | MF | FRA | Fabrice Fiorèse (to Marseille) |
| 12 | FW | NGA | Bartholomew Ogbeche (on loan to Metz) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 15 | FW | BIH | Vedad Ibišević (to Dijon) |
| 21 | MF | FRA | Romain Rocchi (on loan to Bastia) |

## Competitions
### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Ligue 1 | 7 August 2004 | 28 May 2005 | Matchday 1 | 9th | 38 | 12 | 15 | 11 | 40 | 41 | −1 | 031.58 |
| Coupe de France | 8 January 2005 | 2 March 2005 | Round of 64 | Round of 16 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 075.00 |
| Coupe de la Ligue | 10 November 2004 | 21 December 2004 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | +0 | 050.00 |
| Trophée des Champions | 31 July 2004 | 31 July 2004 | Final | Runners-up | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +0 | 000.00 |
| UEFA Champions League | 14 September 2004 | 7 December 2004 | Group stage | Group stage | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 016.67 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 51 | 17 | 18 | 16 | 58 | 58 | +0 | 033.33 |
Source: Competitions

### Ligue 1
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 7 | Lens | 38 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 45 | 39 | +6 | 52 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round |
| 8 | Auxerre | 38 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 48 | 47 | +1 | 52 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 9 | Paris Saint-Germain | 38 | 12 | 15 | 11 | 40 | 41 | −1 | 51 | |
| 10 | Sochaux | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 42 | 41 | +1 | 50 | |
| 11 | Strasbourg | 38 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 42 | 43 | −1 | 48 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
* ↑ Auxerre was qualified for the 2005–06 UEFA Cup as winners of the 2004–05 Coupe de France.
* ↑ Strasbourg was qualified for the 2005–06 UEFA Cup as winners of the 2004–05 Coupe de la Ligue.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: LFP.fr

#### Results by match

| Match | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | L | D | L | D | D | L | D | W | W | L | W | D | W | L | D | D | D | W | W | D | D | D | D | L | L | L | W | W | L | W | D | D | W | W | L | D | L | W |
| Position | 13 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 17 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 9 |

#### Matches
### UEFA Champions League
#### Group stage

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Chelsea | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 13 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Porto | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 8 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | CSKA Moscow | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 7 | Transfer to UEFA Cup |
| 4 | Paris Saint-Germain | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 5 | |