It's official.

There will be no more professional football matches on May 5 in France.

Almost 30 years after the Furiani stadium disaster, on May 5, 1992, Parliament made this date sacred.

A tribute to the 19 dead and more than 2,300 injured in the collapse of the upper part of a provisional stand before the kickoff of the Coupe de France semi-final between Bastia and Olympique de Marseille.

The Senate adopted by show of hands Thursday, without modification, the bill brought by the Corsican deputy Michel Castellani (Liberties and territories), signing the final adoption of the text.

Michel Savin (LR) invited the government to promulgate the text "as soon as possible", so that it can apply from 2022. The Bastia club welcomed this vote.

⚫️ 𝟎𝟓.𝟎𝟓.𝟗𝟐 ⚫️



The SCB welcomes the vote, today, of the Senate which ratified the freeze of professional matches on May 5!



The whole club today has a moving thought for all the victims and the @ Collectif5mai92!



▶ ️ https://t.co/y8vNmDMOsC#PasDeMatchLe5Mai pic.twitter.com/TCN156DSbs

- SC Bastia (@SCBastia) October 14, 2021

The bill was examined within the framework of a parliamentary "niche" reserved for the environmental group, which includes the senator from Haute-Corse, Paul Toussaint Parigi.

Supported by the government, it plans to modify the sports code so that "no meeting or sporting event" in Ligue 1, Ligue 2, Coupe de France and the Champions Trophy is played on May 5.

Minute of silence and black armband as an amateur

For amateur football, the text provides for the organization of a minute of silence and the wearing of a black armband on May 5.

The Minister in charge of the City Nadia Hai specified that the text does not include sanctions, because the Ministry of Sports "works with the football authorities" so that the freezing of matches is respected.

According to her, it is a question of establishing "a framework of lasting commemoration in order to fight against oblivion".

The vote in Parliament responds to the request of the collective of victims and their families, represented in the galleries of the Senate, in the face of the reluctance of the League and the Federation.

Of limited legal scope, the adoption of this text is however highly symbolic, a few months from the thirtieth anniversary of the tragedy of Furiani.

By 2040, only eight days of the championships could be affected.

A decision that is not unanimous

On all the benches, senators nevertheless expressed their reservations or their questions on this text.

Socialist Jean-Jacques Lozach notably referred to "an act of calling into question the autonomy of the sports movement".

"The recourse to the law is essential as a stopgap in the absence of a national consensus which should have been installed", retorted the centrist Claude Kern.

The freezing of matches is not unanimous either.

Some would have preferred a solemn moment of meditation at the start of the meeting or the wearing of an armband.

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Furiani drama: Assembly votes for a day without a football game on May 5

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