Scheduled for this Thursday at 6.45 p.m., the kick-off of the Europa League Conference match between Nice and FC Cologne, which ended in a draw (1-1), had to be postponed to 7.40 p.m. due to serious incidents. at the Allianz Riviera. Shortly before 6 p.m., several hundred hooded German supporters left the stand reserved for the 7,800 FC Cologne supporters to cross the stadium, passing in front of the presidential box, and do battle with the Nice kop.
According to the prefecture, “It was the Germans who charged”. Fans came to blows, sometimes armed with chairs or iron bars torn from the stadium.
Parisian supporters in the Cologne stand
The security forces intervened to interrupt this confrontation, which gave rise to the throwing of projectiles and smoke bombs. AFP reports, from a prefectural source, that a supporter is “in absolute urgency” after falling from a rostrum. This Parisian who came with the Cologne supporters was “very alcoholic”.
This information confirms the statements of several sources evoking the presence of PSG supporters in the FC Cologne stand, wearing their colors. They would have been spotted by Nice supporters before the meeting.
At the start of the match, at 7:40 p.m., almost an hour late, the PSG “Supras Auteuil” supporters club took out a banner in the tribune allocated to the Germans.
A total of 32 people were injured, including two police officers and a steward, and four hospitalized, according to a report from the prefecture established around 10:30 p.m.