Fans at next summer’s Paris Olympics will not be able to buy alcohol inside stadiums after organisers decided not to seek an exemption to ‘Evin’s Law.’
VIP guests in hospitality areas will be served with alcoholic drinks.
The French law bans the sale of alcohol in stadiums to the general public, but allows for exemptions to a limited number of events per year.
However, a spokesperson told Reuters a law change would have been required to accommodate the size of the 2024 event.
“Paris 2024 will be organising more than 700 competition sessions over 15 days of competition,” said the spokesperson.
“It is the strict application of French law that allows catering services that include the provision of alcohol to operate in hospitality areas as they are governed by a separate law on catering.”
At the Rugby World Cup, which takes place in France this year, fans will be able to drink inside venues after organisers negotiated an exemption for the tournament.
At the Champions League final in 2022, supporters were also allowed to consume alcohol inside the Stade de France in Paris throughout the match from 6pm local time, but drinking and purchasing alcohol was prohibited in public spaces around the stadium’s vicinity.
Beer and wine was available at the London 2012 Olympics and at Rio 2016 but at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Games, which were held in 2021 and went ahead with no spectators, alcohol sales were prohibited.
In November, Fifa changed its policy two days before the start of the World Cup in Qatar to ban alcohol sales in all of the major tournament’s eight stadiums.