Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
France has learned its lessons from the 2022 Champions League soccer final fiasco as the country gears up for the Rugby World Cup kickoff between Les Bleus and New Zealand on Friday, Sports Minister Amelie Oudea Castera said.
The minister said the government would deploy up to 7,000 security personnel across the country as part of measures to ensure safety during the tournament, which ends on Oct. 28.
The World Cup starts with the mouthwatering clash between France and the All Blacks at the Stade de France and the situation around the venue will be heavily monitored well before the 9.15 p.m. kick-off local time (1915 GMT).
“We’ve done a tremendous amount of work to learn the lessons from what happened at the Stade de France (at the Champions League final in 2022),” Oudea Castera told a press conference on Monday.
“We have revised our security policy, working on crime prevention.”
France, which will host the 2024 Olympics in Paris, came in for heavy criticism over the chaos at last year’s Champions League soccer final.
The start was delayed by 36 minutes after thousands of Liverpool supporters were unable to get into the Stade de France for the match against Real Madrid.
French police were filmed using tear gas on fans, who complained of heavy-handed treatment as they were herded into pens outside the stadium.
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