1,500 Marseille supporters to travel to Bruges with security tightened | OneFootball

Around 1,500 Marseille supporters will travel for Club Brugge v OM on Wednesday night, the final matchday of the Champions League league phase, with a major security operation to keep rival ultras apart.

According to L'Équipe, roughly 1,000 of them are ultras and members of sections based outside Provence, and authorities in France and Belgium are more concerned than for the early December trip to Union Saint-Gilloise, which finished 3-2.

Concerns are higher because the travelling numbers exceed the 1,000 in Brussels and Club Brugge are at their own ground, and because an at-risk faction of Bruges ultras, about 500 strong, is active alongside a small, youthful far-right hooligan element that seeks confrontation.

Part of that scene has long-standing ties with Dogues Virage Est, the main LOSC ultra group, and the presence of Lille fans in Bruges is feared. In recent days, Bruges indeps used hooligan channels to invite a final arranged fight, posting an insult aimed at OM and saying they were ready.

To avoid any contact, a robust plan will ban Marseille supporters from the city centre and outskirts on matchday, with rendezvous at the border before a direct police escort to the Jan Breydel Stadium.

Source: L'Équipe