Max Guazzini

Who is Max Guazzini?

Max Guazzini is a French entrepreneur and until June 2011 president of the Stade Français rugby union club of Paris, who compete in the top division of rugby union in France, the Top 14. Since arriving at Stade Français in the early 1990s, the club rose from the lower divisions of competition to become one of the most successful French rugby teams of the modern era.

Guazzini was born at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Alpes-Maritimes, into a family of Italian origin. In 1982, he was the founder of a successful private music radio station called NRJ, until he abandoned his seat as board member in 2004.

Guazzini aspired to bring back top-class rugby to the city of Paris, and in 1992 he took over Stade Français, who had been playing in the lower divisions of competition. The club was in the third division when he took over in 1992. He would later say “I want to build a club for Paris, for the people, of which it can be proud”. Together with his backing, the club merged with another Parsian team, the Comitie Athletic St Germain in 1995, and with then head-coach Bernard Laporte they rose rapidly up into the elite division of French rugby. By 1998 they had won the French championship, and completed a dramatic rise to glory in such a short period of time.