Lyon team bus attack highlights growing problem of fan violence in French football

France has had the eyes of large portions of the global sporting fan base on it over these last three days. A World Cup final, rugby’s, on Saturday, and then the announcement of the 2023 winner of football’s Ballon d’Or at a live-broadcast gala in Paris on Monday night.

With nine months to go until the Olympic Games begin in the capital, these sorts of events speak for the country’s capabilities as a confident host.

In between, though, the horrible night of the Olympiques, Lyon and Marseille, two of the three biggest football clubs in Ligue 1. Lyon were due to play the standout game of the domestic weekend on Sunday at Marseille, a high-stakes meeting that, in theory, was making a journey to normalisation.

Because of violent incidents involving followers of Lyon, notably around a cup tie in Paris two seasons ago, the club’s fans have had severe restrictions on their allocation of seats at away games. Those limits were eased for Sunday’s trip to Marseille, 600 Lyon supporters allowed into the Stade Velodrome, up from 200 in the equivalent fixture in 2022/23.

None saw any football. Several experienced stones and other missiles being thrown at their buses as they approached the stadium, an ambush similar to the one on the vehicle carrying the Lyon players and coaching staff to the Velodrome.

The team bus was turning a corner in its approach to the arena around 7pm, two hours before the scheduled kick-off when the assault took place. Witnesses describe both stones and steel petanque balls being hurled at the windows.

A pane of glass shattered next to where Lyon manager Fabio Grosso was sitting at the front of the bus. He sustained head injuries, including a cut to his eyelid that would later require stitches. When the bus