A return to the Stade de France, where the Blues had not played since June 2023, which will not be the big celebration expected. The Dyonisian venue will ring hollow, Thursday, November 14, for the reception of Israel in the League of Nations, a match which takes place in a tense geopolitical and security context. Only 15 to 20,000 people will fill the stands, with a notable drop in attendance among the supporter sections.
As for the Irrésistibles Français, the largest section in terms of number of members (2,500 in 2024), only 225 supporters will be present on Thursday, compared to 1,300 at the Parc des Princes in September for France-Italy. “I believe that there have never been so few of us, except at the beginning of the formation of the association”laments Anne Costes, the vice-president. For her, who was happy to return to the Stade de France, the disappointment was total. “I admit that I am going there reluctantly, not so much because of the security aspect which does not worry me too much, but for the atmosphere in the stadium, which is not going to be festive”.
Gates will also be raised at the edge of the stands to prevent intrusions, and the first five rows will be covered. “Everyone says it has to be a normal match, but they don't do anything to make it really so.”she observes, pointing out the ban on backpacks and the absence of instructions for putting them down, which makes it difficult for people to come from their workplace.
This less festive atmosphere is one of the reasons which pushed the Bleus Passion section not to organize the trip from Vendée. “The tickets are nominative, we know that there will be a lot of checks, so it’s not the friendly atmosphere that we are looking for”points out Benjamin Onillon. The president of this supporters association was also surprised that the match was held at the Stade de France and in public: “We thought that there was a risk of cancellation and closed doors at the last minute, which would have generated bus cancellation costs in particular, so we preferred not to organize the trip”.
“When we come by bus, there are between 40 and 50 people, and we sell around ten seats in the Paris region. And there I only received one spontaneous request, and in Paris no one asked us for a seat .”
Benjamin Onillon, president of the Bleus Passion associationat franceinfo:sport
For the Corsairs, a section of supporters from Dunkirk, there will also be no bus to come to the Stade de France, but a minibus, which its president, Yannick Vanhée, will have to drive. “There will be twelve of us, whereas usually there are almost a hundred of us for the matches in Paris. For comparison, there will be 65 of us in Milan on Sunday evening for Italy-France”he explains.
As for the other sections contacted by franceinfo: sport, there is no question of a political boycott of the meeting, but many other reasons arise. “It's a whole thing. There's the security context, the poster which doesn't make you dream, the French team which makes you dream a little less since the departure of certain players, it's a Thursday evening… But this What is surprising is that there were 30 of us in Budapest for Israel-France, where we were very well received”explains Yannick Vanhée, who also mentions a decreasing purchasing power at the end of the year, “with many members who have already traveled to the Euro in Germany and to the Olympics”.
Last reason, and not the least mentioned by the Dunkirk resident: the proximity to the anniversary date of the attacks of November 13, 2015, which affected the Stade de France. “It’s a slightly complicated date, we haven’t really liked it since 2015. Nobody really says it, but for several years, the November matches at the Stade de France have attracted less”he maintains. “Three years ago, there was a match on November 13 at the Parc des Princes, and people who were present at the Stade de France in 2015 did not want to come. Today, organizing this match at the Stade de France, on that date, for this poster and in this context, I find it poorly chosen”supports Anne Costes.
A decisive France-Israel match in the qualification that the supporters want to quickly put behind them: “I can’t wait for Friday to be over, and especially for March to return to the Stade de France in a less heavy atmosphere”concludes the vice-president of the Irrésistibles Français.
