The French Ministry of the Interior has banned fans of the Swiss first division soccer team FC Basel from traveling to the quarter-final second leg in the Conference League at OGC Nice. Away trips by Basel are “often sources of disruption to public order,” the move was justified in the statement.
The city of Nice had previously asked FCB supporters not to come to the game on Thursday evening (9 p.m.). “I can only express my great concern about the forthcoming arrival of hundreds of FC Basel fans in the streets of Nice,” Mayor Christian Estrosi said last week before the first leg (2-2).
The ministry said that before the first duel in Basel, “risk supporters of both teams had made contact and planned confrontations”. The planned clashes did not take place on the day of the game, but there are fears that the second leg “will become the scene of clashes”.
In September, violent riots broke out during the group match between Nice and 1. FC Köln.
