The World Cup 2026 quarter-finals will begin tomorrow, Thursday, July 9, with a France vs. Morocco match, at 22:00 CEST, 21:00 BST, a duel that will take place at Boston Stadium in Foxborough, over 5,000 km away, but one that is feared to have consequences in Paris, no matter who wins.
In December 2022, during the last World Cup, France and Morocco played in the semi-finals and the unrest after the match resulted in 266 arrests in France, 167 of those in Paris. French authorities are working to ensure that no matter who wins, incidents, riots and unrest will be minimum in France and particularly in Paris, where over 250,000 Moroccan nationals live.
According to Le Parisien (via RMC Sport) the police will be allowed to use drones to film the streets to identify potential incidents and troublemakers more quickly. The Paris Police Prefecture has also extended the ban on pyrotechnic devices in the inner suburbs of Paris for Bastille Day (July 14th) until July 20, the day after the World Cup final, taking into consideration that France is one of the favourites to reach the final.
Other measures are the closure of several metro stations to prevent spontaneous gatherings on the Champs-Élysées. Last May, the wild celebrations after Paris Saint-Germain won Champions League resulted in nearly one thousand arrests, over 200 injured, mostly police officers, and one death. Similar incidents took place one year earlier.