“I am going to ban Sevilla supporters from coming to Lens. » The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, announced this on Sunday in an interview with online media Raw. The measure was made official on Monday, December 11, by a prefectural decree. Spanish fans will not be allowed “at the Bollaert-Delelis stadium and its surroundings”Tuesday, for the 6e and last day of the group stages of the Football Champions League.
A decision motivated among other things, according to the text, by the fact that the meeting “is identified as a risk by the national anti-hooliganism division”. Also pointed out “contact attempts” between independent supporters of the two teams, during the first leg, in the goal “to organize a “fight” [“combat”] » in the same way “the excesses and the brawl between supporters of Sevilla FC and Arsenal which occurred in the immediate vicinity of the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium, following the match on October 25, which the Spanish club lost”.
It is above all recalled in the decree that, “since the start of 2023, the travel of football club supporters has very frequently been a source of disturbances to public order due to the violent behavior of some of them”.
It is this aspect which led Mr. Darmanin to decide on Sunday on the ban on the arrival of some 500 Sevillians expected in the artesian city. The minister was then questioned about the violence which has punctuated several meetings in recent weeks, including those leading to the death of an FC Nantes fan on December 2, in an altercation with people from Nice, for which a VTC driver was was indicted and imprisoned.
These events “raise the particular question of football”Or “the supporters, not all but a small part, are the most violent”he estimated: “We don’t have that for other sports. » After the increase in violent incidents in France around matches in recent months, the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, declared herself in favor of “a moratorium on fan travel”, by December 18. She “took this position, after consulting me with the president of the League [de football professionnel, Vincent Labrune,] to create an electroshock »insisted Gérald Darmanin.
“Disproportionate measures”
In a press release, SundaySevilla FC denounced a decision which “harms its supporters in particular and football in general, with disproportionate measures which do not seem justified”. The club also specified that it was in contact with the Spanish government to try to obtain the lifting of this ban and did not rule out contacting UEFA, the organizing body of the European competition.
In a text broadcast on “unfair and liberticidal orders”. “Sevillian supporters have already booked and paid for their means of transport, their place and their hotel night”they recall, before affirming that they are ready to ” to leave [leurs] places to fit them into [leurs] stands ».
Tuesday’s match will be decisive for Lens as for Sevilla, each being able to obtain 3e place in the group, which would allow them to continue their European campaign next spring in the Europa League.