Under various alerts and even the request for its suspension, the match between France and Israel took place and, as warned, was marred by issues that went beyond football, culminating in arrests and sanctions.
Thirty people were arrested on Thursday night on the sidelines of the match played at the Stade de France, two of them for violent acts that occurred during the match, which took place under tight security measures, as reported by the Bobigny prosecutor's office (Seine-Saint-Denis) on Friday.
The match, played with strong security measures (4,000 police officers and gendarmes deployed) and in a stadium with very few spectators, passed off "very well from a security standpoint", declared the police prefect of Paris, Laurent Nuñez, on 'France 2', who also reported the arrest of two individuals after an incident in the stands between supporters of the two teams.
"We have arrested a total of 29 people, including the two arrested for acts of violence between fans," the Bobigny prosecutor's office told AFP. Most of the detained individuals were accused of common crimes (carrying weapons, possession of drugs, handling stolen items), but five of the arrests were made for "incitement to hatred or violence in a sports venue", the prosecutor's office added.
How did UEFA sanction France and Israel?
UEFA, for its part, announced that it will fine the French Federation and the Israeli Federation for the incidents, where objects were thrown and fans even resorted to violence, which forced the stadium security to intervene.
The sanction will be applied as established in Article 16 of the Disciplinary Code related to the order and security of UEFA in matches, which states that both associations are responsible for any incident that occurs before, during, or after the match.
The severity of the sanction will be determined based on the report from the UEFA security coordinator and the various police reports.