France: Furiani tragedy, never left on 5 May

The French Parliament definitively approved, with a vote of the Senate, a bill that provides that no professional football match will be played in France on May 5, in homage to the victims of the disaster at the Furiani stadium in Corsica, where 19 people died on May 5, 1992.

1992. The Senate voted by show of hands, without changes, the text brought by the Corsican deputy Michel Castellani (Freedom and territories), which the National Assembly adopted in February 2020.

    The Furiani tragedy is a football massacre that took place in Furiani near Bastia in Corsica on May 5, 1992 at the Armand Cesari Stadium, during the 1991-1992 French Cup semi-final between Bastia and Olympique Marseille. The local club wanted to increase the capacity of their stadium by 50% against what was at the time the strongest team in the French league. Local authorities accepted the request, building a temporary 10,000-seat grandstand and removing the fences.

    Before the match the grandstand collapsed, causing the death of 19 people and 2,357 injured: the match was not played.

    Subsequently the French Football Federation decided, as a sign of mourning and in agreement with the clubs, not to recover the challenge or to play the final (for which Monaco had already qualified) scheduled at the Parc des Princes in Paris, canceling that edition of the French Cup.