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Minister warns future of French football 'at stake' over crowd trouble

A recent series of violent incidents during football matches in France's top-flight Ligue 1, the latest on Sunday when Marseille's Dimitri Payet was hit on the head by a bottle thrown by a Lyon fan, is placing at stake 'the survival of French soccer' said sports minister Roxana Maracineanu. 

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

Repeated crowd trouble at France's  Ligue 1 matches is putting the "survival" of French football "at stake", says sports minister Roxana Maracineanu, reports BBC News.

Sunday's game between Lyon and Marseille was abandoned after Dimitri Payet was hit by a bottle thrown from the stands five minutes into the game.

Payet has already been struck with a bottle during a match this season.

This season the league has been marred by crowd violence, missile throwing and pitch invasions.

On Monday, the French League (LFP) announced Lyon will play their next home Ligue 1 game behind closed doors pending an investigation into Sunday's trouble.

Lyon host Reims on December 1st, with the result of the investigation expected to be delivered on December 8th.

Read more of this report from BBC News.