Roma and Feyenoord fans will not be allowed outside travel during their Europa League quarter-final clash.
Dutch club Feyenoord Rotterdam announced on Tuesday a travel ban on foreign fans for the two Europa League quarter-final matches against AS Roma due to incidents in 2015 and 2022.
“In the upcoming European matches against AS Roma, no away fans are welcome in Rotterdam (April 13) and Rome (April 20),” the Dutch club said in a statement.
“Following the Italian authorities’ decision to ban Feyenoord fans from the second leg in Rome, UEFA has ordered Feyenoord not to sell tickets to AS Roma fans for the first leg. ” in Rotterdam, he said.
The prefecture of Rome has adopted an order closing the visitors’ stand at the Stadio olimpico in Rome for April 20 and prohibiting the sale of tickets to residents of the Netherlands in other sectors.
Repeated incidents
It stipulates, in this text, that the meeting was identified as being “high risk due to the rivalry between the supporters” in view of the precedents between the two clubs.
In February 2015, during a Europa League match in Rome, hundreds of Feyenoord supporters stormed the famous Spanish Steps, damaging its main fountain, nicknamed La Barcaccia. Sixteen police officers were injured and twenty-three Dutch supporters arrested.
The return match had not been calmer, interrupted twice due to throwing of projectiles on the ground.
The final of the Europa League Conference, last May in Tirana, won by the Italian club (1-0), had also given rise to new incidents, the day before the match.
About 20 police officers were injured trying to prevent the two sides from meeting, according to the Albanian authorities. A total of ten people were injured, police said.
A few groups of Dutch ultras, mainly the dreaded SCF Hooligans (Sport Club Feyenoord), bring together a few hundred troublemakers, accustomed to acts of vandalism or fights.
Several of them being banned from stadiums in the Netherlands, they most often shine during away matches in European cups.