UPDATED (1:50 PM PST): Added photos from Bruges-Napoli empty stadium Europa League match
Visiting fans will be banned from all soccer matches played in France through mid-December due to a lack of police forces stemming from the country's ongoing state of emergency, the French Ministry of the Interior announced Thursday.
A similar measure was put in place for French League matches held the weekend after the Paris attacks. Fans of Belgian team RSC Anderlecht were banned from its Europa League match against Monaco FC, a team that plays in Monaco but is part of France's top-tier league, Ligue 1.
A statement from the French League (LFP) said:
The Interior Ministry has issued an order banning away fans for the 15th round of Ligue 1 matches, and the 16th round of matches of Ligue 2, this weekend. Another order, with the same provisions, will be issued very soon regarding the 16th, 17th, 18th rounds of Ligue 1, the 17th and 18th rounds of Ligue 2, the eighth round of the French Cup and the round of the Europa League (Dec. 8 and 10).
These decisions are justified by the lack of police forces available in a period of the state of emergency and by the organisation of the COP21 (Climate Summit).
COP21 is scheduled to run Nov. 30 through Dec. 11.
Additionally, Thursday's Europa League match between Club Bruges and Napoli at Jan Breydel Stadium in Bruges, Belgium was closed to fans of either team over ongoing terror concerns in Belgium. The decision to close the stadium to all fans came earlier in the week after it was initially announced that supporters from the visiting Napoli squad would not be allowed to attend.
Eery Breydel stadium. Bruges R having Napoli over, but w/o spionkop or tifosi: police needed elsewhere #brunap 0-1 pic.twitter.com/2xZHumPhFT— Dries Allaert (@3_esse) November 26, 2015
Club Bruges-Napoli is played in a empty stadium due to ongoing security concerning football. #UEL #BRUNAP pic.twitter.com/ZI2FRqtgiG— Philip Harmeling (@PhilipHarmeling) November 26, 2015
Meanwhile, France continues to look into security measures as the host country of next year's Euro 2016 tournament, Europe's championship featuring qualified national teams that's held every four years. On Tuesday, France's Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the country intends to go ahead with plans for large public "fan zones," including one in Paris with capacity for 120,000 people, during the tournament.
Empty stadium matches in Europe are infrequent but not entirely unheard of. Most closed stadium matches are usually punishments for misbehaving fans.
Perhaps the most infamous example in recent years occurred in 2007 in Italy's top-tier domestic league, Serie A, when a police officer was killed during a riot that broke out at a match between Catania and Palermo. As a result, matches held at Italian stadiums that did not meet tough new security measures were played "behind closed doors" until security was improved.