FIFA deplores violence in LENS and MARSEILLE
Following the incidents in LENS on Sunday 21 June and those which surrounded the match between ENGLAND and TUNISIA in MARSEILLE on Monday 15 June, the Bureau of the FIFA Organising Committee of the World Cup met in PARIS on Monday 22 June and issued the following statement:
- FIFA and the entire football community severely condemn the latest acts of barbaric violence, the perpetrators of which have no connection with football or any other sport.
- The thoughts of FIFA and all genuine football fans are with the victim of this violence and his family.
- FIFA thanks the French governmental authorities for the protection which it has given to the matches so far in this World Cup competition, all of which have taken place in safety in the stadium. FIFA continues to have every confidence in the French authorities to maintain security in the stadium, an also stresses that there has been total co-operation with the national associations of GERMANY, ENGLAND, and others involved.
- FIFA will take the initiative of seeking greater co-operation with political authorities, including those of the European Union, in the continuing effort to protect the reputation of football and for the introduction of new legal measures to achieve this.
- FIFA appeals again to the media to support its efforts to stress the positive side of football, and to denounce those who are only intent upon wreaking violence outside the stadium.
The meeting in PARIS was chaired by the Chairman of the FIFA World Cup Organising Committee, Lennart Johansson, and was also attended by the FIFA president, Joseph S. BLATTER, together with Committee members Julio Grondona (Argentina), Abdullah Al-Dabal (Saudi Arabia), Issa Hayatou (Cameroon), Claude Simonet (France), as well as Michel PLATINI and Jacques LAMBERT (CFO), Egidius Braun and Horst R. Schmidt (President and General Secretary respectively of the German Football Federation), and FIFA Acting General Secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen.