The decision, published Wednesday afternoon by the Professional Soccer LeagueAccording to the Allianz Riviera disciplinary commission, on December 21 the Allianz Riviera will be completely closed and the match will begin at 2:45 p.m. The sanction comes after a series of riots attributed to sectors of the OGC Nice support during the defeat against OM.
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According to the commission, the incidents included “the throwing of an object that hit a participant, causing a first temporary interruption of the match; the massive use of pyrotechnic devices that caused a second interruption; and the reported verbal expressions.” The accumulation of these factors led the LFP to opt for the most severe measures available.
This came after Mason Greenwood doubled Marseille’s lead over Nice and celebrated in front of the home fans.
Partial closure is also issued for the next Ligue 1 match
The sanctions come into force on December 9, so Nice’s home match this Saturday against Angers (3:00 p.m.) will be played under normal conditions, despite being classified as a high-risk match.
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The sporting sanction comes at a time when Nice is already mired in a wider institutional and sporting crisis, which now involves a police investigation, player complaints and growing anger from the club’s fans.
The tension that had been building for weeks exploded on Sunday night after a sixth consecutive defeat, this time against Lorient (3-1). When the team returned to the training center around midnight, they were met by around 200 hostile fans staging what local media described as a “descente”, a pressure action aimed at confronting the players.
What followed is now the subject of an active police investigation.
Terem Moffi and Jérémie Boga filed complaints for “aggravated violence,” alleging that they were punched, kicked, spit on and insulted, according to prosecutor Damien Martinelli. Both players were medically released the next day.
GFFN | George Boxall