KAA Gent-Lille friendly classified as high risk by Belgian police | OneFootball

Lille OSC supporters have been left surprised by a decision from the Belgian police to classify their friendly against KAA Gent as a high-risk fixture. On the Gent website, the club revealed that due to this classification, there would be no travelling fans allowed to attend the game as the authorities look to avoid clashes between fans ahead of the warmup game.

French supporters are not strangers to authorities taking these preventative measures and a number of games last season were disrupted by banning orders on away fans. This was particularly the case following the death of an FC Nantes supporter ahead of the club’s game against OGC Nice. What followed was a large crackdown on high-risk fixtures.

However, a friendly being provided the same treatment is a unique case, largely brought about by the geographical proximity of Lille and Gent with only 73 kilometres separating the two cities from one another.

GFFN | Nick Hartland