Will PSG-Dortmund on Wednesday at the Parc des Princes be played without spectators? And, in the process, will all the other Ligue 1 matches, in particular, have to take place behind closed doors? This is the scenario that seems to take shape.
This Sunday evening, the Minister of Health Olivier Véran explained at the end of a defense council, which was held at the Elysée around the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, that "all the gatherings of more than 1000 people are now banned ”. This measure aimed at limiting the spread of the coronavirus epidemic in France is valid for the whole territory and suffers from certain exceptions.
The metro OK, not football?
"The prefects, the ministries will bring up a list of events considered useful for the life of the nation: the events will be part of it, such as competitions or even the use of public transport," said Olivier Véran. This means that the French can continue to take the metro or the bus, or, for students, to take exams.
But what about sports matches starting with the round of 16 return from PSG with its 47,000 spectators expected? It is hard to imagine that this sporting event could fall into the category of "events useful for the life of the nation". So far, gatherings of more than 5,000 people were prohibited until mid-April, but during his previous intervention, Saturday, February 29, the Minister of Health had taken care to specify that these were confined gatherings.
Arbitration at the Ministry of Sports
No distinction was made this time between outdoor and closed demonstrations. That said, the authorities had not hesitated to cancel and postpone the Paris half-marathon which was to be run on March 1. The meeting between Paris and Borussia could therefore effectively fall under the scope of this new restriction measure aimed at stemming the spread of Covid-19. How can we be sure that spectators from the main epidemic centers (the famous clusters) will not make the trip to the Parc des Princes?
We therefore seem to be heading straight for a closed session, even if we have to wait for the meeting to be held this Monday morning at the Sports Ministry. All the short-term scheduled events, including PSG-Dortmund, the France-Ireland match of the Six Nations Tournament next Saturday (a postponement is envisaged), or even the Ligue 1 matches of the 29th day, will be studied in order to assess possible solutions such as in camera, postponement or outright cancellation.
The prefect alone decision maker
These will then be carried by the sports director who will sit at the start of the afternoon within the interministerial task force where the arbitrations will be decided. It will then be up to the Paris Prefect of Police to decide, since the final decision taken on health criteria but also public order belongs to him. We should therefore know more this Monday afternoon even if the postponement of the PSG Champions League meeting does not seem to be on the agenda.
This Sunday evening, and for good reason, the club of the capital had received no information on an outfit of the meeting without spectators. But the noose tightens and a meeting behind closed doors would not be good news for PSG defeated to go (1-2) in the Ruhr and who needs the support of his supporters to qualify. Not to mention that in terms of box office receipts, this would be a considerable loss for the capital's club.