back on a drama forever etched in the memory of French sport

On this evening of May 1992, the sun shines in the Bastia sky. Moreover, the evening promises to be starry, and not only in the skies. At the Armand-Cesari stadium in Furiani, the Marseille galaxy arrives for a semi-final of the Coupe de France against SEC Bastia (Sporting Étoile Club Bastia).

Papin, Waddle, Pelé, Amoros, Boli… OM stars from Bernard Tapie, then Minister of the City, will tread the lawn of the modest Bastia stadium, accustomed to Second Division games for several seasons. Finalist of the last Champions League, Marseille creates the event, wherever it goes. So much so that on May 5, 1992, the Corsican leaders saw things big. In less than two weeks, they erected a temporary 10,000-seat stand.

Increased to 18,000 seats, the Furiani stadium was full. The Corsican enclosure roars. The new north stand was completed the same day, without being validated by the safety commission. The match is therefore about to start illegally. Worse, a few days earlier, another commission had expressed reservations about the security of the building. Reservations that the club has hidden.

10,000 people then take place in this iron tower which looks like a giant scaffolding. The whole rests on wooden cleats, sometimes placed on concrete blocks. From 7 p.m., the organization is concerned about the solidity of the structure, and employees of the builder Sud-Tribunes are busy tightening the bolts.

Meanwhile, the Marseille stars are warming up on the pitch. The mood rises. the announcer, Jean-Pierre Paoli, asks the supporters to “do not stamp your feet on the iron part, for safety reasons”. But the crowd does not realize what is happening under this platform. The players either, while those of OM return to the locker room. The kick-off is approaching.

8:23 p.m .: a dull noise puts an end to the Bastia songs. A heavy silence ensues. Then, multiple cries resound. The top of the north stand has just collapsed. 3,000 people fell fifteen meters high.

The huge scrap tower is no more than a pile of intertwined metal beams, from which the victims extricate themselves. Like a house of cards, the temporary stand collapsed on itself. Those who escaped the tragedy immediately rush into the rubble to rescue the three thousand people trapped.

In total, there were 2,357 injured and 18 dead. But for the moment, the time is urgent. On the other side of the stand, the players from Bastia dismantle the fences so that the survivors can go down to the field. The green rectangle turns into a makeshift hospital.

The whole of France saw this drama live on television. TF1 had just taken the air for this semi-final when the stand tipped over. At 9 p.m., the evacuation order was given. A broom of helicopters is orchestrated on the lawn. 60 minutes later, the red plan is triggered. The Corsican health services must call for help from those on the mainland, in particular Marseille.

Some players participate in first aid. All, Bastiais and Marseillais, refuse to replay the match. The night progresses and the toll grows heavier hour by hour. Bastia imagined living a dream evening against OM, it is finally a waking nightmare that falls on Furiani.

This tragedy, the greatest in the history of French sport, will have several consequences. First, the end of the 1992 Coupe de France. A decision as obvious as it is historic, since it had never been canceled, not even during the Second World War. Qualified in the final after its victory against Cannes, AS Monaco is however designated as the French representative in the Coupe des Coupes 1992-1993.

Furiani’s sequels will above all constitute a long judicial soap opera. After an appeal trial in 1995, eight convictions were pronounced, including those of Jean-Marie Boimond (1), technical director of Sud-Tribunes, who supervised the construction, and Michel Lorenzi (2), vice-president of the SEC Bastia.

Since then, the duty of remembrance has been respected every year in order to never forget this tragedy. After years of struggle, the group of victims of the Furiani disaster finally obtained, in October 2021, a favorable vote from Parliament so that no professional football match would be held in France on May 5 in tribute to the victims. A date engraved where 30 years ago, football claimed its life. Eighteen lives.

(1) Jean-Marie Boimond was sentenced to 24 months in prison and a fine of 30,000 francs (€6,084) for homicide and involuntary injury.
(2) Michel Lorenzi was given a ten-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 15,000 francs (€3,042) for homicide and involuntary injury.