A Nantes supporter was fatally injured during an altercation ahead of the FC Nantes-OGC Nice football match, Saturday evening in Nantes in circumstances which remain to be determined, the prosecution announced. “Shortly before 8 p.m., several VTC vehicles transporting Nice supporters were attacked by supporters of FC Nantes” while they were going to the Beaujoire stadium, indicated the public prosecutor of Nantes, Renaud Gaudeul. “During these events, in circumstances which remain to be determined, a 31-year-old man, a supporter of FC Nantes, collapsed” and “died on the spot,” he added. “Despite the rapid intervention of emergency services, the man could not be saved,” he emphasizes.
According to several sources, the victim was injured outside the Beaujoire stadium by a VTC driver and is a member of the “Brigade Loire” supporters collective. The driver allegedly got out of his vehicle with a knife after Nantes supporters surrounded his vehicle. According to Ouest France, the attacker went to a police station in the evening.
Initial information on this tragedy reported that one supporter was only “seriously injured”, as the Nantes club had lamented on its X account (ex-Twitter). “The very first forensic investigations show that the victim has a wound in the back, which could correspond to a bladed weapon”, elements which will be refined during an autopsy, specifies the Nantes prosecutor.
The prosecution opened an investigation for “intentional homicide”, which was entrusted jointly to the territorial direction of the judicial police and the Loire-Atlantique Departmental Security. “Numerous witness hearings are underway this evening and will continue into the night,” underlines Renaud Gaudeul. “All light must be shed on this tragedy,” reacted the first deputy to the city of Nantes Bassem Asseh in a press release. “Violence has no place either inside or outside of sports arenas.”
The new coach of FC Nantes, Jocelyn Gourvennec, explained that he had not been warned of the tragedy before the start of the match, won (1-0) by his team. “I only learned after the match that the “Loire Brigade” had been hit this evening by our supporter who was stabbed,” declared the coach, whose victory against Nice was overshadowed by aggression. “It was a bit of a special context, a bit of a special atmosphere,” he said after the match. “I can’t imagine how you can go to see a football match, sometimes with your family, and be between life and death. It’s inconceivable,” continued Jocelyn Gourvennec before the announcement of the death. “I don’t know what happened, we don’t have any details, but the players talked about it a lot in the locker room, they were very touched and, obviously we are going to pray for him,” he said. concluded.
The attack on the Nantes supporter follows a series of tensions and incidents that occurred recently on the sidelines of Ligue 1 matches. Last Sunday, two Brest supporters were slightly injured by shards of glass when their bus was targeted by projectiles after their club’s 3-1 victory in Montpellier. Before the match, the police had to use tear gas and batons to “restore order” when a “hundred or so Montpellier supporters, partly hooded and armed with iron bars and batons, sought to battle it out when the Brest supporters arrive,” according to the Hérault prefecture.
At the end of October, the Olympique Lyonnais bus was stoned before the match against OM at the Stade Vélodrome, injuring Lyon coach Fabio Grosso and his assistant Raffaele Longo. At least one bus of Lyon supporters was also attacked, the projectiles causing minor injuries, and the match could not take place. It was rescheduled for Marseille on December 6.
