A total of 4,000 police officers and gendarmes will be deployed on Thursday for the "high-risk" France-Israel match at the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis, as part of the Nations League, Paris
police chief Laurent Nuñez announced on Sunday, November 10.
Such a deployment of law enforcement corresponds to an "extremely reinforced" and "very unusual" setup for an international match, added the police chief on BFMTV.
The 4,000 law enforcement personnel will be stationed around and, unusually, inside the stadium, as well as on public transportation and in Paris. Approximately 1,600 security agents will also be deployed at the Stade de France, and the Raid, the elite unit of the national police, will be tasked with ensuring the safety of the Israeli team, continued Laurent Nuñez.
“It will be a high-risk match,” he said, in a "very tense geopolitical context" and a week after violent incidents in Amsterdam between groups of individuals and Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters, which sparked international condemnation.
“We will not tolerate any disorder or disturbance to public order,” the police chief further stated, adding that entry checks at the stadium would be "extremely reinforced," but that the law enforcement had not "requested a limited capacity" for the stadium for this Nations League match.
On Sunday, the French Football Federation (FFF) estimated the number of tickets sold for the event at "around 20,000," far from the approximately 80,000 seats available at the Stade de France, while specifying that ticket sales were still open. Photo by Chabe01, Wikimedia commons.