2023-04-29 11:05:19
The Stade de France hosts an unexpected poster in the Coupe de France final, Saturday April 29 at 9 p.m., between defending champions Nantes and Toulouse. The yellow of the Canaries and the purple of Toulouse FC will fill the stands of the Ile-de-France enclosure, where 78,000 spectators are expected, including tens of thousands of supporters of the two teams.
The surprise poster between these two formations of the second part of the table in the league is surrounded by a heavy extra-sporting context, almost a year after the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid in the same stadium, which had turned to the organizational and security fiasco.
In addition, the confirmed presence of Emmanuel Macron stirs up social protest movements, even if the Head of State has not planned, a priori, to descend on the lawn on the sidelines of the meeting to greet the two teams. The French president will not give the cup to the winner on the lawn either. The prefect of police, Laurent Nuñez, specified Friday evening to have himself “imposed” the trophy is awarded to the winner “in the stands”particularly because of the risk of ground invasion.
Whistles and red cards
Nevertheless, the trade unions had planned to distribute red cards and whistles to spectators at the Stade de France to show their rejection of the pension reform and their dissatisfaction with the Head of State. . A gathering nevertheless banned by the Paris Police Prefecture, even if the inter-union considers that it only provides for a towing and intends, Friday evening, to file an appeal before the administrative court upon notification of the prohibition order.
Saturday morning on RMC SportLaurent Nuñez justified these measures in the name of preventing “disorders of public order”. He felt that the union presence would add « flux » unwelcome people around the stadium which will already be crowded, specifying that the use of whistles in the stands is prohibited by the French Football Federation (so as not to disturb the refereeing) and that these whistles should be discarded during the search, making the management of spectators all the more tedious. “There is no infringement of freedom of expression”he argued.
“The final of the Coupe de France is not Roman-style circus games, it is not the CGT with its imperial thumb that could decide who to boo the President of the Republic, who to cut off the electricity during a match »had previously estimated government spokesman Olivier Véran on BFM-TV and RMCcalling for “don’t confuse everything”.
Historic encounter
Some 3,000 police and gendarmes will be mobilized. A device « 50 % plus important »according to the entourage of the Minister of the Interior, than that mobilized on May 28, 2022 for the Champions League final, the last meeting between clubs disputed in this stadium located north of Paris.
The match promises to be noisy in the stands, with tens of thousands of supporters expected on both sides for this historic meeting: Nantes have won the Cup only four times, and Toulouse only once, in 1957, under the red and white jersey of a club that disappeared in 1967, then recreated from scratch in 1970. In addition to a prestigious trophy, a victory during this 106e edition would offer them a ticket to the Europa League next season.
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