Relegation is one of the most unique aspects of international soccer compared to American sports, as the teams the finish at the bottom of the league will be sent down to a lower league (while top teams are promoted up). Relegation can cost clubs millions (and in some extreme cases, cause them to shut down entirely) and fans who want to watch their team in the top flight are suddenly no longer offered that opportunity.
In France, the bottom two teams in Ligue 1 are automatically relegated to Ligue 2, but the 18th place team must play a two-leg playoff against the third place team from Ligue 2 for who gets to play in the top flight of French soccer next year. This year, those two teams were AS Saint-Etienne and AJ Auxerre, and Sunday saw the two teams play to a 1-1 draw for the second time in Saint-Etienne’s home stadium, leading to a tense penalty shootout. Auxerre won that shootout 5-4 to make the leap up to Ligue 1, while Saint-Etienne will spend next season in Ligue 2, and their fans were, unsurprisingly, displeased by this outcome.
Because this is European soccer, those fans were armed with flares and they stormed the pitch, chasing their own players off the field and into the tunnel, chucking lit flares at them as they scurried to safety in an absolutely insane scene.
The mass pitch invasion which followed Saint-Étienne’s relegation – players rushing down the tunnel as flares were thrown in their direction. (
: @AdBlettery) pic.twitter.com/c8m0i9p6SP
— Get French Football News (@GFFN) May 29, 2022
Relegation battles produce some crazy scenes, but this is a new one with fans firing flares at players. As someone not steeped in soccer tradition, fans having flares in the stands at soccer games (and sometimes European basketball games) has always been absolutely wild to me, but particularly so if stadium security has no chance of stopping them from getting on the field.