Olympiacos will face Marseille on Thursday at the “Velodrome” in the Europa League without the support of its fans.
French authorities have decided to ban Olympiacos fans from attending the match in Marseille due to fears of disturbances, so the approximately 3,500 “red-and-white” fans will not be able to cheer on their team, even though they had spent a considerable amount of money on their trip and accommodations.
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Olympiacos FC has already expressed its dissatisfaction with the decision, which was made quite belatedly, emphasizing that both its own stance and that of UEFA were ignored.
“We have already sent an official protest to UEFA and are requesting an investigation into how our fans, who suffered this inconvenience, will be compensated, and we are raising the issue of ensuring the safetyof all our fans who were or will be in Marseille,” Olympiacos stated.
Security forces in France, which are already stretched thin due to student protests, were deeply concerned about the presence of hooligans and potential clashes on the sidelines of the match, which was classified as very high risk.
The announcement:
“Olympiacos FC informs our fans that we have just been officially notified that the French authorities are banning our fans from attending our match against Marseille this comingThursday in Marseille for the Europa League!
Olympiacos FC expresses its dissatisfaction with the French authorities’ belated decision to ban our team’s fans from attending Thursday’s (10/15) against Marseille in the Europa League, citing public order and safety concerns.
Throughout the past month, Olympiacos FC has cooperated fully with both the French club and UEFA, as well as with local police authorities, and at no point was the issue of banning our fans from traveling to France ever raised. In none of the prior contacts or meetings had such an issue ever been raised, not even as a possibility.
It was only yesterday that we learned of the French authorities’ intention—and not even through official channels—and we sent a letter of protest to both UEFA and Marseille. UEFA did the same with the French authorities, but both our stance and that of the European Confederation were ignored.
We acknowledge that when a country’s competent authorities make decisions citing reasons of public order and safety, the scope for intervention by a club or even UEFA is limited, but we condemn the delay that is forcing our fans to incur expenses and endure hardship due to this decision, which was unacceptably made at the last minute, even though there are already people traveling or who have already traveled to Marseille!
We hope this unacceptable delay is not based on a precedent set for a similar match in December 2023, before the Lens – Seville Champions League match, when the French authorities banned Spanish fans from traveling just three days before the match, even though approximately 400 Sevilla fans had already purchased tickets.
At that time, Sevilla appealed to the French Council of State, and on the day of the match, the ban was suspended by the court. Now there isn’t even time for that kind of response.
We have already sent an official complaint to UEFA and are requesting an investigation into how our fans, who suffered this inconvenience, will be compensated, and we are raising the issue of ensuring the safetyof all our fans who were or will be in Marseille!
We will provide a further update on the exact restrictions imposed by the French authorities.”
*photo source: KYPE
