They’re back, finally. Like the Stade-Vélodrome (Orange Vélodrome) on Saturday July 31, during the friendly match between Olympique de Marseille (OM) and Villarreal, where the energized atmosphere recalled a period when the Covid-19 did not exist , Ligue 1 finds its supporters for this new season which begins on Friday August 6 with a meeting between AS Monaco and FC Nantes. All the players are now hoping that the closed-door matches and the songs of supporters recorded and spat over loudspeakers to cover the silence will be a bad memory.
But if the championship finds a semblance of normality, everything is not yet settled. As France faces a fourth epidemic wave, there are still many uncertainties. No gauge is currently set for the matches, which allows, a priori, that the stadiums are filled. But what will happen at the start of the school year if the number of contaminations in the territory continues to increase?
The only condition set by the government for entry into the stadiums, the presentation of a health pass – issued on the basis of a complete vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test of less than forty-eight hours. But, already, restrictions are imposed locally. While the Hérault is experiencing a sharp increase in its incidence rate, the prefect of the department has set a gauge of 13,500 places at the Mosson stadium, against a capacity of 22,000, for Sunday’s match between Montpellier and France. ‘OM.
“We will adapt”
Faced with these uncertainties that hover, some Ligue 1 clubs have decided to give up launching subscription campaigns, yet eagerly awaited by the most assiduous supporters who then have the assurance of attending all of their team’s matches in residence. This is the case in particular in Montpellier, Angers, Nantes and even in Marseille.
“We first want to test the sanitary pass by setting gauges at the Orange Vélodrome (30,000 spectators against Villarreal in a friendly, 50,000 against Bordeaux, in Ligue 1, on August 15 [sur une capacité de plus de 67 000 personnes]), then without gauge against Saint-Etienne, the [28] August, Jacques Cardoze, the communication director of the Marseille club, told the newspaper The team. And, if all goes well, we will launch the campaign in the first half of September. “
On the side of FC Nantes too, we prefer to wait to see the situation improve in terms of health before launching a subscription campaign. “There are too many organizational uncertainties. All last season, there were cancellations, match-by-match refunds from our subscribers. We didn’t want to relive that ”, explains to World Benedict Guillou, ticket office manager at the Beaujoire stadium.
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