The city of Saint-Denis will be more than ever at the center of the football planet on the evening of Saturday May 28. With the long-awaited Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool at the Stade de France (9 p.m.), the town will see waves of Spanish and English supporters surge, while benefiting greatly from this planetary event. As Le Parisien indicates, Saint-Denis was given a financial endowment of several tens of thousands of euros from UEFA for the holding of this event, which was initially to take place in Saint Petersburg, before the start of the war in Ukraine.
Apart from this welcome check, the municipality also saw its inhabitants benefit from the passage of the “Big Ears Cup” and the animations in town at the beginning of May. The opportunity for the Dionysians to prepare for D-Day, when the fan-zone will be specially open to them from 6 p.m.
The city has also managed to negotiate with the European football body about 220 places for the final, which it will distribute transparently between the sports clubs harmed by the event, municipal officials, elected officials and above all 114 inhabitants. drawn. “An unprecedented quota,” said Shems El-Khalfaoui, sports assistant for Saint-Denis.
However, hosting such a prestigious match also has its share of drawbacks. Since mid-April, several sports clubs in the city have been deprived of the annex stadium, which was requisitioned by UEFA to set up its sponsors’ village there, as during Euro 2016. The local associations have castigated this choice, they who are deprived of facilities for six weeks and who must now train on other equipment in the city, mainly at the Delaune stadium.
In addition to this, the increased security perimeter on the evening of the final will impact certain businesses in the city, which will be paralyzed for much of the afternoon until the middle of the night. Finally, Real Madrid, which will have the opportunity on Saturday evening to offer itself a fourteenth Champions League, has decided to privatize the Legion of Honor Park for half a day in the middle of the weekend, to the detriment of children. and residents. The price to pay to benefit from the most anticipated game of the European season.
