Sunday’s Ligue 1 match between Montpellier and Saint-Etienne was abandoned after supporters of the former threw smoke bombs on the pitch and in the stands, causing a fire to start.
The game, taking place at Montpellier’s Stade de la Masson, was initially suspended by referee Francois Letexier shortly before the hour mark with Saint-Etienne leading 2-0. Going into the fixture, Montpellier were bottom of Ligue 1 with Saint-Etienne one place and five points ahead of them.
A statement from Ligue 1 confirmed the game was abandoned “after a crisis meeting between the game delegates and the intervention of the police”.
“By decision of the public authority, it was decided not to resume the match,” Letexier then told a news conference.
The league statement added that a decision will be made in the coming days by the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP), the body which organises French professional football, as to the outcome of the match.
Saint-Etienne striker Lucas Stassin had scored the game’s opening goal in the 11th minute. The away side then went down to 10 men shortly before half-time as defender Maxime Bernauer was shown a second yellow card. Stussin doubled his team’s lead in the 53rd minute, causing the reaction from the Montpellier supporters, according to a Saint-Etienne statement.
A win in the match would have taken Saint-Etienne above Le Harve, who occupy the relegation play-off spot in 16th, and level on points with 15th-placed Reims but behind them on goal difference.
La tension monte d’un cran à la Mosson ! De nombreux fumigènes jetés sur la pelouse après l’encaissement du 2ème but. Match arrêté #MHSCASSE pic.twitter.com/uF9MrNBhIm
— Tiffany Henne (@TiffanyHenne) March 16, 2025
(Photos: Sylvain Thomas/AFP via Getty Images)
