Nice have been docked two points, one of which is suspended, and must replay their Ligue 1 game with Marseille after crowd trouble led to the match being abandoned on 22nd August.
Marseille’s Dimitri Payet was hit by a bottle and threw it back into the crowd, causing fans to storm the pitch. Payet, his team-mate Alvaro Gonzalez and Marseille coach Pablo Fernandez have all been sanctioned.
The match will be replayed without fans at a neutral location. Nice will play three games behind closed doors.
The Ligue de Football Professionnel announced its disciplinary decisions on Wednesday night with Payet handed a suspended one-match ban. Gonzalez has been banned for two matches while Marseille physio Pablo Fernandez has been given a nine-month touchline suspension.
The match at Nice’s Allianz Riviera stadium was attended by a crowd of more than 32,000 with spectators allowed back inside grounds in France after the majority of the 2020-21 season was played behind closed doors due to coronavirus restrictions.
However, with Nice leading 1-0, it was abandoned in the 75th minute after fans stormed the pitch when Payet launched a bottle back into the stands having been struck in the back with it as he prepared to take a corner.
After some lengthy delay, Nice were ready to finish the game but Marseille’s players refused to.
Authorities in France subsequently ordered a four-match stand closure and arrested a man.
The incident occurred two weeks after Marseille’s 3-2 win at Montpellier was also held up when fans pelted the pitch with bottles.
That game, on 8th August, was halted in the 89th minute after Marseille substitute Valentin Rongier was hit on the head and Montpellier’s Florent Mollet was also hit as he prepared to take a corner.
Nice’s 4-0 win over Bordeaux on 28th August – their first game at home since the Marseille match – was played without fans.
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