Saint-Etienne fans banned from French league game at rival Marseille

By Canadian Press on February 12, 2025.

PARIS (AP) — Saint-Etienne supporters have been banned by French authorities from traveling to Marseille for this weekend’s Ligue 1 game between the two clubs with the biggest fan bases in France.

In an order published Wednesday, France’s interior ministry said there is a “real and serious risk of confrontation” between the rival fans.

Second-placed Marseille takes on struggling Saint-Etienne at the Stade Velodrome on Saturday.

While Marseille vs. Paris Saint-Germain remains the biggest match in French soccer, and is known as “Le Classique,” Saint-Etienne and Marseille have a special rivalry of their own. They were the two most decorated clubs in French football before PSG started its dominance after Qatari investors took over in 2011.

Saint-Etienne — which has 10 league titles to its name, one more than Marseille — dominated French football during the 1960s and ’70s. Mediterranean club Marseille became one of Saint-Etienne’s strongest rivals after regaining a spot in the topflight in 1966.

Marseille, still the only French club to win the Champions League (in 1993), finished runner-up behind “Les Verts” in 1970 and won its first title in 23 years ahead of Saint-Etienne in 1971.

Although their rivalry softened eventually with Saint-Etienne’s sporting decline, both clubs still enjoy the support of a national fan base and their matchups are always intense.

Off the field, relations between Marseille and Saint-Etienne fans have been marked by animosity for decades.

Justifying its decision to ban away fans at the Velodrome, the interior ministry said “this strong antagonism has on several occasions led to serious clashes requiring the intervention of the police, some of whose members have been injured, and to the throwing of missiles and the lighting of fireworks.”

In March 2024, Saint-Etienne fans ambushed Marseille fans on a motorway and threw stones at their bus convoy. In response, Marseille supporters got off their bus to attack a Saint-Etienne supporter who had reportedly announced their arrival.

Marseille is second in the French league, 10 points behind runaway leader PSG. After 21 matches, Saint-Etienne is languishing in 16th place in the 18-team league.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Samuel Petrequin, The Associated Press