World Cup FRANCE 98 – Press Releases

Paris, 21 May 1997

The government and the CFO sign a security agreement

On Wednesday 21 May at the Place Beauvau, the Home Secretary Jean-Louis DEBRE, and the French Organising Committee Presidents Fernand SASTRE and Michel PLATINI, together with its Managing Director Jacques LAMBERT, signed a security agreement for the 1998 Football World Cup.

The World Cup will be the first large-scale sporting occasion to put into effect the 1995 Security Act, which requires that responsibility for security be squarely divided between the State and the organisers.

Within the stadiums, the CFO’s own security staff (consisting of professionals and volunteers) will welcome, seat and assist spectators to the order of 1 steward to approximately every 100 spectators. A medical team of emergency and first-aid specialists will also be on hand.

Outside the stadiums, public safety will be ensured and order enforced by police and army security forces . However, they may also intervene within the stadiums themselves at the organisers’ request, or should they see fit. On match days during the World Cup, around 5,000 extra state security troops and a mobile police presence will be on hand as well as local police, security forces and medical staff. A number of special units, including helicopters, will also be deployed by the state security organisation.

The agreement, which is the outcome of a highly-productive dialogue between the two parties, also sets the amount to be paid by the CFO to the State for the general enforcement of security for the competition. And while guaranteeing top-level conditions of safety for the many different supporters coming from around the world, the agreement respects the desire of both sides for the World Cup to be the relaxed and enjoyable occasion that such an event should be.

These new security measures will be tested during the Tournoi de France matches in Lyon on 3 and 8 June 1997.