This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/soccer by /u/er_primo_der_rafa on 2023-12-11 20:33:59.
Sevilla fans going to Tuesday’s match against Lens risk a prison sentence of 6 months and a fine of 30,000 euros if they fail to comply with the decree issued Tuesday by the Prefecture of Pas de Calais.
This order prohibits the presence of “Sevilla fans or those who behave as such” from 10 am on Tuesday 12 to 3 am on Wednesday 13 in several areas of the city of Lens and its surroundings.
The Prefecture argued that this ban was due to “a real and serious risk of confrontation between fans of the two clubs.” The news was received with astonishment in Seville. It is estimated that between 300 and 400 fans of the Andalusian team were to travel to the Bollaert-Delelis stadium.
The Prefecture’s decree, signed by the government delegate in Pas de Calais, Jacques Billant, establishes a wide ban on Sevilla fans, which includes not only the area around the stadium, but also the center of Lens and areas of nearby towns, such as Arras and Liévin.
In addition to the risk of confrontation, the provision mentions the terrorist threat, which in itself mobilizes many police forces that could not be deployed for Tuesday’s match, and that Pas de Calais is an area of “strong migratory pressure” for those trying to cross to the United Kingdom.
The Spanish Embassy in France has also acknowledged to be “concerned” about the effect of this measure on its citizens, while the Lens fans and their own coach have interpreted it as a sign of impotence of the French authorities to organize major sporting events, less than 8 months before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Sevilla FC will file an “urgent appeal” against the French government’s decision to ban Sevilla fans from entering the Stade Bollaert-Delelis of Lens, the Spanish side’s opponents on Tuesday in the final matchday of the 2023-2024 Champions League group stage, according to a club statement issued on Monday.
“Sevilla FC will file an urgent appeal, together with the French Association Nationale des Supporters, against the administrative resolution to ban access to any person attending as a Sevilla FC fan to several areas of several cities, including Lens and Arras, and against the French Interior Ministry’s resolution last night to ban flights,” the club said on its website.
The nervionense set hopes to have resolution “as soon as possible”, although “does not rule out that it could be even in the early hours of the morning”. “Sevilla is aware of the difficulty of changing the criteria of the French administration, but will put all its legal and diplomatic efforts to try that our fans can be in the match against Lens,” concluded the club’s statement.
The French government banned on Monday the entry to the Bollaert-Delelis Stadium of Lens to Sevilla FC fans, as well as to approach the surroundings of the enclosure, on the occasion of the match between Gauls and Sevillians, through a prefectoral decree. In the document, the Executive referred to the “real and serious risk of confrontation between the supporters of the two clubs”.
A measure that the president of Sevilla, José Castro, described from France as “a real atrocity”, since the 300 Sevilla fans “are not at risk”. “They have bought their tickets, their flights and the French government decides this barbarity,” the president said in statements published by the club on its website.