The next home European games for Marseille and Nice will be played behind closed doors as a penalty for recent crowd disturbances.
Following disturbing fan occurrences, Marseille and Nice have now been sanctioned by UEFA. The Disciplinary Committee of the governing body has decided that both clubs’ upcoming matches in the corresponding European competition will be played in an empty stadium.
According to L’Équipe, Marseille will play Sporting CP in a stadium devoid of fans as a result of the penalties meted out to the Ligue 1 team after several incidents involving their fans engaging in violence and malicious behavior during their most recent Champions League home game against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Due to the rioting during their Champions League match against Eintracht Frankfurt on September 13, Uefa had to punish Marseille.
In the meantime, Nice suffered consequences when their Europa Conference League match against Cologne on September 8 was postponed due to altercations between rival fans.
For Tottenham’s visit on November 1st, Marseille has also been given the go-ahead to partially close their stadium.
According to Uefa, the sanctions were given for “igniting pyrotechnics, throwing objects, using laser pointers, causing disturbances in the crowd, and blocking public pathways.”
On October 4, Sporting Lisbon will visit Marseille in the Champions League. On October 13, Nice will host Slovakia’s Slovacko in the Europa Conference League.
The sale of tickets for Nice’s upcoming away game has also been prohibited due to several infractions, including “racist behavior, hurling of objects, lighting off fireworks, and crowd disturbances.”
Additionally, they have been prohibited from selling tickets to away fans for their upcoming Uefa competition game, which has also been postponed for a year.
For “lighting of fireworks, throwing of objects, and crowd disturbances,” Cologne was fined 100,000 euros (£90,000) and barred from selling tickets for their upcoming two away games in Europe.
Due to the “discriminatory behavior of the club’s supporters” during their match against Nice on September 9, Serbian club FK Partizan has been fined 20,000 euros (£18,000) and ordered to partially seal their stadium for their upcoming home game in Europe.
A partial stadium restriction and 15,000 euro ($13,400) punishment were imposed on Eintracht Frankfurt. The ban was suspended for a year.
Due to their racial behavior, the German club has also been prohibited from selling tickets for their upcoming away European match, with a one-year suspension.
Italian powerhouse Juventus was also given a one-game partial stadium shutdown punishment, as well as a prohibition on selling tickets for their upcoming away European match.
Both penalties were imposed for some of their fans’ “racist behavior” during the Champions League match against Paris St. Germain on September 6 in France.
