Here’s why French fans riot – even when their team wins

It's now an infamous tradition

A person was found dead after an accident on Paris's ring road, which rioters tried to block overnight.

In total, 219 people were injured, among them 57 police officers, while eight of the injured people were in a serious condition, the BBC reported.

In the country’s capital, which saw the Champions League trophy go to the city for a second year, thousands of police officers were deployed to curb unrest.

The unrest, caused by fans, disrupted bus, train and rail services all over Paris.

As fireworks and flares were set off, several officers were injured, as police fired tear gas to disperse crowds in the centre of Paris.

Last year, when PSG won the trophy for the first time in their history, there was similar violence on the streets, as celebrations turned deadly.

Authorities were better prepared this time around, with a “very robust, very solid system in place”, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said.

The ‘tradition’ was once again repeated

One of Paris’s landmarks, however, the Champs-Élysées, was yet again swarmed by fans, this time shortly after the French champions won in a penalty shootout in Budapest.

In footage and clips from the city, flares are seen being set off, electric bikes burning on roads and revellers smashing the glass of at least one shopfront.

Hours prior to the game kicking off, there were clashes between police and supporters, even during the day.

The incidents happened as fans showed up to watch the final on giant screens at Parc des Princes, PSG’s stadium.

During the unrest, police said that six vehicles, two businesses and a bus shelter were damaged.

Authorities said that 416 had been arrested in the early hours of Sunday, including 280 people in the country’s capital.

The unrest was “absolutely unacceptable”, the interior minister said, as seven officers had been injured.

On X (formerly Twitter), far-right leader Marine Le Pen said that “only in France does a football club's victory spark riots.”

“Only in France does everyone feel compelled to lock themselves in their homes on the evening of a victory to avoid being confronted with violence.”

Paris police made 480 arrests, with 277 taken into custody, including 82 minors.

The Paris prosecutor's office said that the figures were provisional, as it added that offences ranged from attacks on officers to attacks on property, theft, as well as illegal possession of weapons.

As history repeated itself, France’s interior minister was grilled about the nationwide rioting that marred Paris St-Germain’s second straight Champions League triumph.

As he was asked why there had not been similar scenes in London during Arsenal’s joyful Premier League title parade, Laurent Nuñez said: “Listen, ask yourself for five seconds, is it really the robustness of the police system that needs to be questioned? Is that really the issue?”

“The underlying causes are that, taking advantage of these festival moments, you have a certain number of people who come to break things, to loot, and that is a reality”, he added on France Inter’s Le 7/9 programme, pressed on the “underlying causes” of the weekend’s violence.

The unrest ‘epidemic’ which is now synonymous with Paris Saint-Germain

The “epidemic” of unrest has become synonymous with PSG’s march towards being crowned double European champions.

And to make things more worrying, this is not the first time that a title for PSG has led to such scenes in Paris.

As they became French champions for the first time in 19 years in 2013, their own title celebrations had to be cut short following violent scenes in which fans fought with riot police.

The unrest left 30 people injured, including three police officers, and led to 21 arrests.

In a statement after those scenes 13 years ago, PSG said in a statement that “today should have been a day of celebration for the city of Paris”, and that “the party was spoilt by a few hundred troublemakers who have nothing to do with football.”

At the time, the Paris police commissioner Bernard Boucault said that 800 officers took several hours to bring a situation under control that included the smashing of store and car windows near the Champs-Élysées.

Now-sir David Beckham was among the players led away by security officials amid clashes between riot police and fans, who threw stones and other objects and were tear-gassed.

A trophy presentation outside Paris’s city hall was then banned by Manuel Valls, the then interior minister.

He said at the time that PSG had “serious problems with its fans”, as he defended police actions.

“Football is still sick – that’s the case with PSG,” he told Europe 1 radio in 2013.

In the following years, concerns about France’s approach to football-related policing continued to mount.

Rioting in Paris occurred also after PSG’s maiden Champions League final against Bayern Munich in 2020, which followed the “yellow vests” political demonstrations in France, and the unprovoked kettling and tear-gassing of Liverpool fans by French police at the 2022 final contested by Liverpool and Real Madrid at the Stade de France.

There were similar incidents after last year’s Champions League semi-finals in which PSG also beat Arsenal, followed by their 5-0 thrashing of Inter Milan in the final in Munich, as both led to rioting in Paris and even further afield.

While French police were prepared well enough for more of the same after Saturday’s penalty shoot-out in Budapest, it appeared little had been done in the intervening 12 months to identify the true “underlying causes” and the potential solutions.

A European Union lawmaker, Raphaël Glucksmann, said that “France is living under strain. ⁠Society is becoming increasingly brutal. We are a pressure cooker ready to explode any time”.

Meanwhile, others have highlighted deep social divides as the cause of repeated violence and unrest, saying those who had wreaked the most havoc were not representative of football fan culture.

According to Henry Samuel, The Telegraph’s Paris correspondent, there were “many people to blame” for what culminated in the weekend’s rioting.

He added that: “It’s no secret that French policing tactics have been questioned not just by rights groups but by international rights groups. The handling of the Liverpool game, but not just football. The way they handled yellow-vests protests and the number of people who lost an eye or half their face because they had stunning ammo fired straight at them, is unbelievable, and it just wouldn’t wash in any other country in Europe.”

Following the triumph in Budapest, Paris Saint-Germain's captain, Brazilian centre-back Marquinhos, appealed to the PSG supporters to “enjoy the win today responsibly, don’t make a mess in our city.”

However, it is now safe to say that his pleas fell on deaf ears.

While European clubs will have to find a way to rival Paris Saint-Germain on the pitch and prevent them from winning the Champions League three years in a row, the authorities in Paris and elsewhere in France will have to find a way to prevent the riots from happening once more.