Stadium security intervene next to supporters holding Israeli flags during the UEFA Nations League League A, Group A2 soccer match between France and Israel at the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis, on the northern outskirts of Paris, on November 14, 20
Police made 40 arrests at a tense soccer match between France and Israel in Paris but the city’s police chief says on Friday that the huge security operation had “worked very well.”
The Nations League game at the Stade de France on Thursday took place under intense security after fans of Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv were attacked in Amsterdam last week.
Around 4,000 police and members of the French security forces patrolled inside and outside the stadium, assisted by 1,600 civilian security personnel.
Stewards had to intervene at one point to stop fans of both nations from clashing in the stands, an AFP reporter saw.
Videos posted on the X social media platform showed fans, some with Israeli flags, running along the rows of seats at the stadium while other supporters whistled and booed before members of the security team separated them.
“A fight broke out which was immediately contained by the stewards,” Paris police chief Laurent Nunez told France 2 television.
“The match went very well from a security point of view.”
A security source said one person was arrested immediately after the brief skirmish in the stands and another was detained after being identified from CCTV images.
Just 16,611 people watched the game in the 80,000-capacity stadium, the lowest attendance for a match involving the French men’s national team since the stadium was built in the late 1990s.
The match ended in a goalless draw but the point earned was enough for France to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Nations League.
