• The final Ligue 1 fixture between Nantes and Toulouse was brought to a definitive stop.
• Nantes supporters stormed the pitch, deploying flares onto the playing surface.

A tumultuous conclusion marked both the match and the season for these two football clubs. The Nantes Toulouse match, part of the 34th and ultimate round of Ligue 1, was permanently interrupted following an incursion by Nantes supporters onto the field, who also ignited and threw flares onto the pitch. Both the match delegate and the referee confirmed the decision.

Nantes, positioned 17th and already relegated to Ligue 2, faced Toulouse, who sat 10th with nothing further to play for. The score stood at 0-0 in the 22nd minute when fans from the Tribune Loire section breached the Beaujoire stadium’s playing area. This prompted referee Stéphanie Frappart to immediately direct players back to the changing rooms.

“It was decided to definitively stop the encounter based on the prefect’s decision for security reasons,” the international referee announced during a brief press conference, held approximately 40 minutes after the initial suspension of play.

At the time of the stoppage, Nantes coach Vahid Halilhodzic remained pitch-side, verbally confronting the encroaching supporters, barely restrained by security personnel. The 74-year-old manager appeared distraught minutes later in the Beaujoire corridors, confiding to the Ligue 1+ commentator that this marked his final “coaching” experience and that it caused him “great pain.”

Concurrently, after a few minutes, the Nantes supporters retreated to their stands, which were then secured by numerous CRS officers, though they could not entirely prevent some minor scuffles. A crisis unit, comprising the prefect, representatives from law enforcement, officials from both clubs, and the match referees, immediately convened to determine the fate of the fixture.

After more than 30 minutes, Stéphanie Frappart and the match delegate addressed the press to confirm the match’s permanent abandonment. Notably, Waldemar Kita, the club’s owner-president, and his son Franck, the deputy general manager, were not present at the game, despite having had lunch with the players just hours earlier before departing Nantes.

The previous season witnessed a similar incident when the Montpellier versus Saint-Étienne match, during the 26th Ligue 1 round, was permanently halted due to Montpellier supporters throwing flares onto the pitch and into the stands. Montpellier subsequently faced a forfeited match and the closure of the Étang de Thau stand, home to their ultras, until the season’s end.