The Furiani disaster happened at

Bastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...

on the French island of

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

at the Stade Armand-Cesari, on 5 May 1992. 18 people were killed when one of the terraces collapsed.

Collapse

On that day,

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

faced

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

for a semifinal match in the

French Cup The Coupe de France (), also known in English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is ...

. Marseille was unarguably the best team in France at the time, and the board of Bastia wanted to take advantage of it by adding a large-capacity stand, to increase the number of seats by 50%. Local authorities approved the project without restrictions. The announcer had repeatedly asked the fans not to stamp their feet on the stands, but they disobeyed this order. Before the game, the stand collapsed, killing 18 and leaving over 2,300 injured. Structural problems, such as instability, were noticeable in the hour before the match. The structure collapsed at 20:23 CEST, shortly before the scheduled start of the match. Supporters and media were trapped in the wreckage. The match was never played. All medical resources on the island were fully committed to dealing with the injured and many of the victims were eventually evacuated to the mainland; the airport was reported as resembling a field hospital.

Investigation

An investigation was opened into the disaster. The investigation concluded there had been a number of violations of rules concerning the construction of the temporary terrace, and in the management of ticketing, and that the attitude of sporting and municipal executives had been problematic. The report concluded "" (). After a trial a number of those found responsible served short sentences.

Later developments

Since the disaster, Armand-Césari slowly improved, leaving only one of the four stands from 1992. This "under construction" stadium surprised the players from

S.L. Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904, as ''Sport Lisboa'', Benfica is one of the " ...

in 1997, as they believed this was the training pitch. Some major improvements finally started at the end of 1996, for a final capacity of 18,000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armand Cesari disaster 20th century in Corsica Stadium collapses 1992 industrial disasters SC Bastia Olympique de Marseille 1991–92 Coupe de France Building and structure collapses in 1992 Building and structure collapses in France May 1992 in Europe