adminPARIS. — All major sporting events in the Paris region were suspended on Saturday as France mourned the victims of attacks in the capital city the night before that left 129 people dead and 352 wounded. Shows of respect, sadness and support took place well beyond French borders as sport’s global family, from Sydney to Washington to Sao Paulo, united in sympathy.
Before the Euro 2016 soccer playoff between Sweden and Denmark at the Friends Arena in Stockholm, the stadium was lit up in red, white and blue. Both teams wore black armbands and, led by Sweden and Paris St Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, observed a minute’s silence. Sweden captain Ibrahimovic expressed his sympathies for his fellow Parisians after gun and bomb attacks in the French capital on Friday left 129 killed, hundreds injured and the city traumatised.
“It’s sad, tragic. Things like that shouldn’t happen,” the Paris Saint Germain player told broadcaster Kanal 5 after Sweden beat Denmark 2-1 in the first leg of their Euro 2016 playoff. “I stand behind those who have passed on and the families there. “I tried hard to focus on the game, which was very hard,” added the 34-year-old, who is in his fourth season at PSG, having moved to the French capital in July 2012 from AC Milan.
The Friends Arena in Stockholm was lit up in the red, white and blue national colours of France, with a minute’s silence observed before play while the players also wore black armbands.
Sweden coach Erik Hamren said the attacks in the French capital had affected his side’s preparations.
“The terrible and despicable has happened,” Hamren told reporters.
“We had a chat when we assembled and we must show that evil cannot be allowed to win, that football is important on days such as this.”
A minute’s silence was also held before the playoff between Ukraine and Slovenia in Lviv, with European football’s governing body announcing that UEFA games could feature similar tributes over the next few days. The shows of solidarity with France went beyond Europe.
Sydney FC soccer fans held up a vast French tricolore ahead of an A-League match against Melbourne Victory while the ice was illuminated in red, white and blue before a Washington Capitals NHL game with Calgary Flames.
Jockeys at a major horse-race meeting in Cheltenham, England, all wore red, white and blue armbands and in the BMW Masters golf tournament in Shanghai, French golfer Benjamin Hebert had the message “Pray for Paris” emblazoned on his cap.
No matches were scheduled this weekend in France’s elite Ligue 1 but domestic TV stations Canal Plus and TF1 said they were calling off their main football programmes scheduled for yesterday.
A friendly international against England scheduled for Wembley tomorrow will go ahead as planned, the French Football Federation said. “As we speak the game is on, yes,” a spokesman for the federation told Reuters by telephone. — Reuters.
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