French football in new spiral of violence as Olympics loom

PARIS : French football plunged into a new abyss of violence after the Olympique de Marseille v Olympique Lyonnais game was called off when the visitors' bus was pelted with stones and beer bottles, injuring Lyon coach Fabio Grosso on Sunday.

Grosso sustained face injuries in another episode of fans brutality to rock Ligue 1, which two years ago was marred by several acts of violence and crowd troubles.

Since the incidents happened outside Marseille's Stade Velodrome, the French League (LFP) have no jurisdiction to sanction the home team.

The indicents are a bad look for the LFP, who have been negociating a TV rights deal for 2024-29, with the tender ending on Thursday, and made for embarrassing footage less than a year before the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Some preliminary round Olympic matches will be played in Marseille, where violence erupted at the 1998 World Cup between England fans and French police.

"OL regrets that this type of situation recurs every year in Marseille and calls on the authorities to assess the seriousness and repetition of this type of incident before an even more serious tragedy occurs," Lyon said in a statement, with the club adding they would lodge a formal legal complaint.

"What happened to Fabio Grosso is totally unacceptable," OM presient Pablo Longoria said.

"This is something that cannot happen in football. Even if it happened outside of the stadium, it is unacceptbale. I am angry and appalled by the situation."

Sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said: "These unacceptable acts deny the very values of soccer and sport, and the perpetrators must all be found and severely punished.

Seven suspects had been arrested on Sunday night, the minister added.

Sunday was not the first time that the away team bus