Supporters have been told to expect identity checks ahead of the game. Bars and restaurants in the area have been told to close from the afternoon.
The Stade de France was the scene of a dangerous breakdown in law-and-order at a Uefa Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid in 2022. However since then the Rugby World Cup and Paris Olympics have both been peacefully staged there.
France’s far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party – which sides with Palestinians and Lebanese in the conflicts with Israel – has called for Thursday’s match to be cancelled, or at least for President Macron to refuse to attend.
“We do not want our head of state honouring a country that commits genocide,” said LFI deputy David Guiraud. Israel has denied allegations of genocide as baseless and grossly distorted.
But Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said it was out of the question to cancel or relocate the match. “France does not give way to those who sow hatred,” he said.
France and Israel are in the same group in the Uefa competition, alongside Italy and Belgium. In their first leg – played in Budapest – France beat Israel 4-1.
Pre-match tensions were already in evidence on the eve of the match after a pro-Israeli “gala” event was given the go-ahead in Paris, which the far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich was at one point expected to attend – although it was later thought his “presence” would be by video-link.
Youth football teams and grassroots clubs across the country have held a minute’s silence at the start of their games to commemorate a 10-year-old girl who di
10-year-old Poppy Atkinson was killed when she was struck by a car during a training session at Kendal Rugby Club in Cumbria. Clubs from Leeds to London
The high court, sitting in Liverpool, heard Uefa had relied upon the principle that English courts will not inquire into the legality of actions by foreign gove
Caption: Alan Shearer?s Premier League predictions credit: Getty / Metro After some impressive results for English sides in Europe the focus is