After two seasons of European scarcity, the reunion between OL and the Europa League has so far struggled to achieve the expected popular success. The sporting record is not in question, since Pierre Sage’s men won their first two matches in the competition (2-0 against Olympiakos and 1-4 against Glasgow Rangers). No, this is a question of the sanction of partial closed session by UEFA for the first day, due to incidents dating back to April 2022 in front of West Ham. However, after the very limited attendance of 24,414 spectators on September 26 against Olympiakos, the meeting on October 24 against Besiktas should do barely better.
And this because it will take place in a surprising configuration of 30,000 spectators (despite a capacity of 58,000 seats)… decided by the management of OL. “The match will be classified at a very high level of risk by the National Division for the Fight against Hooliganism (DNLH)”, indicates in a press release the Rhône prefecture, which announced on October 2 the ban for any Besiktas supporter , and therefore the absence of visitor parking.
More than 20,000 Besiktas supporters in 2017 in Lyon
Why such caution? Terrible clashes between fans of the two camps broke out around and inside Parc OL in April 2017, during the previous meeting between the two clubs, already in the Europa League. The kick-off was then delayed by 45 minutes due to violence in the stands, and both OL and Besiktas suffered a “suspended suspension from all European competition” from UEFA.
With one particularity: there were more than 20,000 Besiktas supporters, almost everywhere at Parc OL, for this quarter-final first leg of C3 at Décines (2-1). In order to avoid such an affront in the stands, and above all in order to keep everyone safe, the management of Olympique Lyonnais has decided to close the entire third ring of its stadium, and not to open its ticket office to the general public, unlike what had been done seven and a half years earlier.
Towards “a rapprochement of identity” for OL-Besiktas
Only OL subscribers and supporters (via the MyOL program) were able to purchase tickets. The “strong and lasting antagonism” between OL and Besiktas fans (according to the Rhône prefecture) therefore leads to unprecedented caution of such proportions in Lyon. Because in order to minimize the risk of resale (which is prohibited), tickets for OL-Besiktas are nominative.
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The Lyon club “reserves the right” to set up “an identity reconciliation”. Concretely, security agents can “check the consistency of the information” for each spectator presenting their match ticket. It will then be necessary for Lyon supporters to avoid fights between themselves, as happened during the last success in Ligue 1, on October 6 against FC Nantes (2-0).
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