July 13 – Supporters of St Etienne, the club known as ‘les verts’ and one of the most iconic names in French football, have decided to boycott the French cup final against PSG.
Last weekend, stadiums in France re-opened to fans but with a strict maximum of 5,000.
This will be the case for the delayed finals of both the Coupe de France (July 24) and the Coupe de la Ligue (July 31) yet with a quota per finalist of only around 900 supporters.
That is anathema to St Etienne whose fans would normally have converged on the French capital in their thousands.
The five largest of the club’s supporter groups have decided to stay away completely and reject their allocation.
“With 900 places for St Étienne fans and in health conditions that will be impossible to respect, we have decided to go against our heart and that none of the five St Étienne supporter groups will go to support Les Verts,” said a joint statement.
“In agreement with our club, the area that had been reserved for us will remain empty.”
The French Cup final will be the first official professional match in France since the league was abandoned in March amid the Covid-19 crisis.
The League Cup final between PSG and Lyon will follow a week later and French FA boss Noel le Graet said that he would try to get permission for more fans to attend both fixtures.
“At the moment, we’re at 5,000 [people allowed in the stands], so maybe we’ll make a request to try and get more,” he said.
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