Under the lights of the Allianz Riviera, football gave way to remembrance on Wednesday as OGC Nice turned pieces of its own stadium into a fund-raising effort for families affected by the 2016 Nice attack.
Key takeaways
- Twenty-two artist-designed Allianz Riviera seats were sold for a combined €77,600.
- The full event raised €90,918 for four organisations supporting victims of the 14 July 2016 attack.
- Nice-based collective Whole Street transformed the seats offered at auction.
- Current and former Nice players, club figures, supporters and local partners joined the sale in person or online.
- Match-worn and event shirts from Nice’s 1-1 draw with Le Mans on 5 September also went under the hammer.
A stadium auction with a wider purpose
OGC Nice staged the charity sale in the press room at the Allianz Riviera in partnership with Allianz France. Every one of the 22 customised seats found a buyer, providing the central contribution to an evening organised in support of Life for Nice, Mémorial des Anges, Promenade des Anges and Une Voie des Enfants.
Those four associations work with victims of the attack carried out on Nice’s Promenade des Anglais on 14 July 2016. Beyond the seats, the auction included shirts and T-shirts linked to the club’s 1-1 fixture against Le Mans on 5 September, while further donations helped lift the final total to €90,918.
Nice figures past and present join the effort
Gauthier Hein and Laurent Abergel attended at the stadium, alongside former club president Maurice Cohen and his successor Jean-Pierre Rivère. A number of former and current players took part remotely, including Axel Witsel, Sofiane Diop, Morgan Sanson and Moïse Bombito.
Former Nice players Pierre Lees-Melou, Alassane Pléa, Jérémy Pied and Walter Benítez also joined the bidding online. Diop contributed a donation, as did former Nice player Kaïl Boudache and coach Olivier Pantaloni, with each of them supporting the cause without purchasing one of the seats.
