Many Toulouse residents claim to have suffered “touching” at the entrance to the Benfica stadium, where their team played on Thursday. Téfécé has contacted UEFA, while the Portuguese club claims not to have been informed of the slightest incident.
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It was to be a day of celebration for Toulouse supporters. Nearly 3,000 of them were in Lisbon for their team’s Europa League play-off against Benfica on Thursday February 15, where Téfécé lost at the last second (1-2). But this enthusiasm was dampened by the treatment suffered during the excavations to access the Luz stadium. “We were felt everywhere, particularly on the private parts”tells franceinfo: sport Anaïs, present in the Toulouse parking lot.
Before entering the enclosure, the young woman claims to have suffered “touching” from the Portuguese stewards. “I was very uncomfortable, someone put their hand between my buttocksshe continues. We weren’t far from digital penetration.” Faced with the influx of testimonies, particularly on X (ex-Twitter), the club denounced in a press release “excessive searches and acts of intimidation”. Téfécé invited its supporters to contact the French embassy in Portugal or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also contacted UEFA, organizer of the match.
“They massaged my testicles and pushed them up nicelysays Lilian, another Toulouse supporter contacted. It lasted about fifteen seconds.” Unlike other supporters, these touches were suffered over his pants, and not on his body. Several corroborating testimonies, collected by franceinfo: sport or reported on social networks, relate this version. “It was clearly a prostate examquips Victor*, member of the ultra Indians Tolosa group. Some felt sexually assaulted, for example having received fingers in their ass or hands in their bra.”
An “intimidating” police device
The Toulouse supporters interviewed believe that the stewards acted in this way to detect smoke bombs. “But we’re not going to hide something under our skin!”, deplores Anaïs. Accustomed to traveling to support their team, these Téfécé faithful had never suffered such treatment.
“In France, dogs sniff our private parts. It’s not very pleasant, but at least no one feels us.”
Victor, Toulouse supporter present in Lisbonat franceinfo: sport
Before reaching the entrance to the stadium, where the alleged events took place, the Toulouse supporters faced a police force. “intimidating”. “As soon as we exited the metro, we were escorted into a two-meter-wide corridor, surrounded by policesays Victor. They were banging their batons against their breastplates.”
This is not the first time that Benfica has been accused of similar actions at the entrance to its visitor park. In October 2022, supporters of Paris Saint-Germain and Maccabi Haifa testified to the same effect. “I was mentally prepared for it”, Lilian fatally concedes. In a press release (in Portuguese) published late Friday afternoon, the Lisbon club firmly denied having been warned “of the slightest incident during the access of Toulouse supporters to the match”.
Similar incidents during Milan-Rennes
According to the document, during a post-match meeting between the UEFA match delegate and Benfica officials, “nothing negative” has not been reported. It also reads that “the organization of the match, the reception of guests and supporters of the opposing club” have been “greeted”. However, Benfica is not the only club affected by this type of incident.
According to our information, facts of the same ilk were denounced by several Rennes supporters during the trip to Milan (0-3) on Thursday evening. “There were very thorough, abusive palpations, particularly of the genitals”, supports Salomé Duhoo, present at San Siro and ambassador for the Her Game Too association, fighting against sexual assault in stadiums. Like her Toulouse counterparts, the Breton woman points out the overall organization of the trip: “It was poorly managed, we were herded like cattle. These palpations were the culmination of a whole chain of decisions.”
In France, similar cases were recorded in Le Havre at the start of the season. Five complaints for “sexual assault” had been filed by Lensoise and Lille supporters, accusing the same steward of “searches of private parts”. Unlike the episodes in Lisbon and Milan this week, this was an isolated case, concerning a single steward.
*The first name has been changed