September 22 – Ligue 1 blockbuster Olympique Marseille vs Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday was hit by bad weather and rescheduled for Monday (today), but clashing with tonight’s Ballon d’Or ceremony.
The fixture is always one of the highlights of the French domestic calendar because of the historic and geographic rivalry, but on Sunday, the match was postponed because of expected storms in France’s Bouches-du-Rhône region.
The prefecture of the region Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur wrote in a statement: “According to Météo-France forecasts, the entire department will be hit late this afternoon by a Mediterranean episode that will cause significant rain and thunderstorms. Cumulative rainfall could reach 70 to 90 mm in some places and locally 120 mm in a few hours.”
“These weather forecasts suggest that heavy rainfall could occur across the country between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., at the start and end of the match, which was due to bring together nearly 70,000 supporters at the Stade-Vélodrome.”
The LFP then rescheduled the match for Monday. PSG said their team had travelled back to the capital to return to Marseille the following day.
The new date, however, clashes with the Ballon d’Or, the most prestigious individual awards ceremony in the game.
The Parisians, the European champions after defeating Inter Milan 5-0 in the Champions League final last season, are expected to headline the event. Ousmane Dembele and nine other PSG players have been nominated.
It’s the second consecutive time that the Ballon d’Or ceremony has been derailed. Last year, Real Madrid snubbed the event because Vinícius Júnior didn’t win the top award.
Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]