PAOK grieving after Romania crash, Lyon away end shut as intense ultra culture endures | OneFootball

The PAOK Salonika away end at Groupama Stadium will lie empty after a minibus crash in Romania killed seven fans and left three injured. A 55-year-old supporter also died of cardiac arrest after learning a close friend had died. Nearly 5,000 were expected, but the visitors’ section in Décines-Charpieu will be closed.

PAOK are famed for fervent travelling support, powered by a diaspora with groups in Germany, Belgium, North America, Australia and Zambia. Travelling in numbers is central to the club’s identity, yet trips have also brought flashpoints, including clashes in Marseille in 2022.

Former Cameroon goalkeeper Charles Itandje, at the club from 2013 to 2015, recalls 300 to 400 people waiting to fight at the training ground after defeat to OFI Crete, with some players struck by bottles. Team-mate Panagiotis Glykos once arrived with a black eye after being hit by a projectile.

Now a goalkeeping coach at Versailles, Itandje adapted, asking family not to attend, changing routes home and sometimes avoiding the city centre. He called the context unique and the supporters extremely intense.

The main ultra group, Gate 4, evokes English stands of the 1990s. In the vein of Millwall, PAOK embrace a lone-against-all identity fuelled by visceral rivalries with AEK and Panathinaikos in Athens, and with Olympiakos, the country’s most decorated club.

To honour those who died on the road to Lyon, PAOK have displayed number 12 shirts in the official store, a number no player can wear, bearing the eight names. Olympique Lyonnais will pay tribute before the European match, crucial in their push to top the league phase.

Source: L'Équipe