Saint-Etienne fans stormed the pitch immediately after their side was relegated on Sunday, with some fans attacking players in scary scenes at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.
Auxerre defeated Saint-Etienne on penalties in the relegation playoff, with Les Verts now set to play in Ligue 2 for the first time in 18 years.
Immediately after Auxerre’s winning penalty hit the back of the net, a swarm of fans stormed the pitch with some making a beeline to their players and throwing flares at them.
Players were immediately evacuated as flares filled the skies, with riot police dispatched to the pitch to attempt to regain control.
đ¨ TERRIBLE SCENES & TOTAL CHAOS! â ď¸ St-Etienne were relegated from #Ligue1, and fans invaded the pitch after the final PK to attack and bombard the players with flares! đą
The players had to escape from the pitch to the dressing rooms, and some of them were injured. pic.twitter.com/Fyiw4K80qy
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) May 29, 2022
In a statement on its website, Saint-Etienne said it “strongly condemns these acts, gives its full support to those affected and will initiate the necessary legal proceedings.”
A season of fan violence in France
The 2021-22 season featured a host of ugly incidents in stadiums across France, with Saint-Etienne involved multiple times.
On two occasions during the season, including the final match of the regular season, the club was forced to play matches behind closed doors due to fan unrest.
Earlier in the season a match between Nice and Marseille was abandoned after Nice fans stormed the pitch and threw projectiles. Nice was handed a two-point deduction as a punishment.
Another Marseille match, this one at Lyon, was abandoned later in the season when Dimitri Payet was hit by a water bottle thrown from the stands.
After a host of incidents early in the season, France’s sports minister Roxana Maracineanu issued a warning: “Everyone must understand that it is the survival of French football that is at stake.”
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