Marseille supporters protest against the detention of one of their own in the context of the violence committed against the Olympique Lyonnais bus convoy on October 29, 2023. In Marseille, November 4, 2023. CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP
The disciplinary committee of the Professional Football League (LFP) will not sanction Olympique de Marseille for the stone-throwing of the Lyon coaches, it announced on the evening of Wednesday, November 8.
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“After having read the elements of the file and proceeded to the hearing of the two clubs”the commission, contacted by the president of the LFP, Vincent Labrune, “notes that the incidents which occurred on public roads are not likely to give rise to the liability of the organizing club”it is written in the press release. “Consequently, the commission will not take disciplinary action on these incidents”added the League.
As is often the case when Lyonnais travel to Marseille, the bus convoy carrying the OL team and its supporters was targeted by cobblestones before a match against OM in the city. Phocaean, October 29. But this time, the Lyon coach, Fabio Grosso, was hit in the head by the shattering of a window of the bus in which he was on. He had twelve stitches and was given thirty days of temporary incapacity for work. His deputy was also hit and six buses out of ten in the convoy were damaged.
Two supporters prosecuted
After consultation with the two clubs, public authorities, representatives of the LFP and the referee, it was decided not to play the match that evening. The meeting has been postponed to December 6, but the location, the subject of tension between the two clubs, has not yet been determined.
Two Marseille supporters arrested in connection with these incidents are being prosecuted for willful violence in a meeting with premeditation. One of them was placed in pre-trial detention.
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The disciplinary committee also opened an investigation after racist chants and gestures observed in the stadium’s visitor parking lot by Lyon fans. The decision is expected on November 22.