The venue was built by Bouygues Bâtiment Ile-de-France and Vinci for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

It is owned by the French State and managed by a consortium of construction giants Bouygues Bâtiment and Vinci, whose contract is set to expire in July 2025.

French newspaper Le Monde has reported that a process to sell or find a new operator for the 81,500-capacity venue is set to begin this week and continue throughout next year, with the successful bidder likely to be revealed in 2025.

Ministry of Sports sources told Le Monde that this was with the aim of preserving "the sports vocation of the facility" and "the economic and financial interests of the State".

L'Équipe had reported that FIFA was considering taking over the venue and its President Gianni Infantino had discussed it with French President Emmanuel Macron last month, but the global governing body told Le Monde that it "firmly denied this information".

It emerged in November last year that the Qatari owner of Paris Saint-Germain Nasser Al-Khelaïfi hoped to purchase a stadium in the French capital, the Parc des Princes - the football club's current home owned by Paris City Council - and the Stade de France the most likely options.

The Stade de France could be valued between €400 million (£354 million/$426 million) and €600 million (£531 million/$639 million).

A 2019 Senate Finance Committee briefing report found that the cost to the public of operating the stadium since construction began in 1995 could exceed €1 billion (£885 million/$1.1 billion) after Paris 2024.

The consortium which manages the Stade de France has not commented on its intentions, while the embattled National Federations for football and rugby - whose Presidents have fallen from power in recent months - are expected to be involved in the process.

Both rent the Stade de France to play regular matches at France's biggest sporting stadium, although its is set to be unavailable from the start of 2024 to allow preparations to begin for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

An athletics track needs to be installed for Paris 2024 which would reduce the capacity to 77,083.

Athletics and rugby sevens are due to be held at the Stade de France at next year's Olympics, and Para athletics at the Paralympics.

The Stade de France held the men's 1998 FIFA World Cup, 2016 UEFA European Championship and 2007 Rugby World Cup finals, as well as the 2003 World Athletics Championships.

It stepped in to replace Saint Petersburg as host of last year's UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool, a match it held for the third time, but that was overshadowed by the shambolic handling of the occasion by the French authorities and police.

There were disturbing images and videos of bottlenecks, crushes and the indiscriminate use of pepper spray on supporters, and fans being the victims of assaults and robberies outside the ground.

A French Senate report said the match should serve as a "warning shot" for Paris 2024, while an independent report commissioned by UEFA was heavily critical of European football's governing body and found "it is remarkable no one lost their life".

The independent report also criticised the Stade de France management for failing to take "any measures to ensure retention" after CCTV recordings from all 260 cameras were automatically deleted around one week after the match.