Rome – The Minister of Interior Matteo Piantedosi has decided to ban the sale of tickets for the upcoming Roma- Feyenoord match to Dutch fans. 

 Tickets to the match which will take place at the Olimpico stadium on April 20 will be available to anyone except the Dutch after the Ministry of Interior Affairs deemed the ‘risk of riots’ to be too significant.     

 It is not the first time this year that a prohibition on the sale of tickets to fans was put in place, as the same decision was made only a few weeks ago regarding the Eintracht- Naples match when the Eintracht fans were banned from attending. 

 That time, the Eintracht fans defied the decision and bought tickets to Campania anyway and started rioting and clashing with Napoli fans on the seafront anyway, causing much detriment to the city.  

 A match against Feyenoord will likely bring back devastating memories for the Romans after the February 2015 match where they set the Eternal city alight, the mayor of Rome, Robert Gueltierie has therefore also requested to also implement a ban on travel from the Netherlands to avert a similar crisis. 

 The decision has been met with criticism of the UEFA with president Aleksander Ceferin commenting that he finds the ban on fans to be “intolerant”. 

 In addition to the prohibition of ticket sales, and the possible ban on travel, the city of Rome is also set to employ an impressive amount of forces and police to patrol the streets and prevent disorderly conduct. 

 It is unlikely that the decision will be overturned as this match is specifically important for Rome as the match coincides with the arrival of the inspectors from the Bureau international des expositions for Rome's candidacy for Expo 2030 and any images clashes and disorder would not bode well for the Eternal City’s candidature. 

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