St-Etienne away fans hit with ban

France’s Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) has banned fans of Ligue 1 club St-Etienne from travelling to away games until the end of December following an afternoon of violent clashes in Nice.

Sunday’s league meeting between Nice and St-Etienne at the Allianz Riviera stadium, which finished in a 1-0 away win, saw around 250 visiting supporters ejected from the venue after some of their number began throwing seats at home fans around an hour prior to kick-off. Violent confrontations between opposing spectators then took place, leading to several minor injuries.

In response, LFP has decided to “close the visitors’ gallery for St-Etienne’s away games until the end of the year”. The matches affected by the ban take place in Rennes on December 4, Montpellier in December 13 and against Paris St-Germain on December 18.