Staying the night in Nice I had three options in Ligue 1 on Saturday. At My hotel was across the street from the station and I rested a while before having something to eat and drink at a nearby restaurant. Stade Geoffroy-Guichard is a minute walk from the train station and at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard was opened in but it has been reconstructed several times since then.
The ground hosted matches in the and European championships as well as in the World Cup. Nowadays the ground has a capacity of 42 The club's ten league titles are the most professional league titles won by a French club. My seat was in row 27 in the stand opposite the main stand. After a while in my seat I noticed the lower tiers of the end stands were empty which seemed strange.
Although it is officially a seated area this where the most vocal home fans normally stand and these areas tend to fill up early. Disappointing, especially since I know there is normally a good atmosphere at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. My stand was filling up nicely though and by kick-off it was more or less full. There is a small upper tier in the end stands and these were full.
The official attendance was given as 25 which was more than I estimated. Maybe season tickets holders in the closed sections were included in the official attendance? Those of us present could witness an early goal. Neither team created that many chances in the first half and at half-time it was still The atmosphere at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard was, despite the closed sections, ok.
Marseille v Dijon will be my third game on this tour.
