Stade Armand-Cesari, also known as the Stade de Furiani, is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...

Furiani Furiani (; ) is a commune in the Haute-Corse department, on the island of Corsica, France. Population See also * Communes of the Haute-Corse department * Tour de Furiani * Railway stations in Corsica The railways in Corsica (part of Fra ...

, France. It is currently used mostly for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

matches of

SC Bastia Sporting Club Bastiais ( co, Sporting Club di Bastia, commonly referred to as SC Bastia or simply Bastia) is a Corsican association football club based in Bastia on the island of Corsica. The club plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of Football ...

. The stadium is able to hold 16,000 people and opened in 1932. It was the venue for the first leg of the

1978 UEFA Cup Final The 1978 UEFA Cup Final was a football match played on 26 April 1978 and 9 May 1978 between PSV Eindhoven of Netherlands and SEC Bastia of France. PSV won the tie 3–0 on aggregate, with a 3–0 victory at home following a goalless draw in Ba ...

, which saw a 0–0 tie between

and the Dutch-side

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

. Eventually, PSV won the Final with a 3–0 victory on their home ground

Philips Stadion The Philips Stadion () is a football stadium in Eindhoven, Netherlands. As the home of PSV Eindhoven (Philips Sport Vereniging), it is therefore also known as PSV Stadion. With a capacity of 36,500, it is the third-largest football stadium in th ...

. The record attendance at the stadium was set on 1 September 2012, when 15,505 people saw Bastia lose against

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Saint-Étienne is the t ...

(3–0) in a league match.U Stade Armand Cesari
SC Bastia, Retrieved 30 July 2012 (in French).Les échos autour de Bastia-Saint-Etienne

, 2 September 2012 (in French). This broke the record set on 26 April 1978, when 15,000 people saw Bastia draw 0–0 against

in the first leg of the

Furiani disaster

The stadium is mostly known outside Corsica for the Furiani disaster, which occurred on 5 May 1992 when one of the four terraces collapsed, causing the death of 18 people and injuring more than 2,300 others.

Background

When they reached the semi-final of the

1991–92 Coupe de France The Coupe de France 1991–92 was its 75th edition. For the first time since its creation, the final was unplayed due to 18 people being killed after a temporary stand collapsed during the semi-final game between SC Bastia Sporting Club Bast ...

, the draw gave Bastia a tie against

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

, the Division 1 leader at the time. In order to accommodate more fans, the club board decided to create a temporary terrace instead of the old ''Tribune Claude Papi'' which could only take 750 fans. The new capacity of the terrace was 10,000.

Matchday

An hour before the start of the match, problems were already noticeable, such as the instability of the structure. At 8:20 p.m., the whole structure collapsed, with supporters and journalists in the wreckage. Every medical option on the island was exhausted. The victims were eventually evacuated to the mainland, including Marseille. Poretta Airport was quoted as resembling more of a hospital than an airport that night.

Aftermath

On 8 May, an official investigation began in order to find who was responsible. After the disaster, the FFF decided — after some hesitation — to cancel the remaining matches in the Cup. On the 12th, the investigators came to the conclusion that there had been a number of rules broken concerning the terrace. All these findings led to the investigation's conclusion "Le soir du 5 mai, il n'y a pas eu de fatalité," which translates as "On the evening of May 5, there was no fatality." Ultimately, at the trial a year later, the main protagonists were proven guilty but were only given prison sentences of less than two years.

Recent history

Following the disaster, the stadium waited a long time to be rebuilt. The ''Tribune Nord'' was rebuilt in 1997, before Bastia could play again in the

1997–98 UEFA Cup The 1997–98 UEFA Cup was won by Internazionale in an all-Italian final against Lazio. It was their third title in eight years in the competition. It was the first instance of the UEFA Cup final being a one-game contest at a neutral stadium, ha ...

. For the 100th anniversary of the club, in 2005, the four terraces were renamed: * North terrace: ''Tribune Claude Papi'' * East terrace: ''Tribune Jojo Petrignani'' * South terrace: ''Tribune Victor Lorenzi'' * West terrace: ''Tribune Pierre Cahuzac''

References

External links

Complete website in french about the disaster for 1992
{{UEFA Europa League Final venues Armand Cesari SC Bastia Multi-purpose stadiums in France Sports venues in Haute-Corse Sports venues completed in 1932