Major football stadium tragedies

This picture taken on October 1, 2022 shows members of the Indonesian army securing the pitch after a football match between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya at Kanjuruhan stadium in Malang, East Java.  (Photo by AFP)

Paris, France | AFP |

The stampede at a domestic football match in eastern Indonesia that led to at least 125 deaths late on Saturday is the latest in a long line of football stadium tragedies.

AFP Sport highlights some of the worst:

PERU

May 24, 1964

– 320 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured during a stampede at a Peru-Argentina Olympic qualifier at Lima’s National Stadium. Fans could not escape the crush and were trampled or asphyxiated.

 

RUSSIA

October 20, 1982

– Mystery still surrounds the total number who died when there was a crush in a stairwell at the end of a UEFA Cup match between Spartak Moscow and Dutch side Haarlem at the Luzniki Stadium. Officially the toll remains at 66 — 45 of them teenagers — but according to daily newspaper Sovietski Sport, the numbers were far higher and 340 were killed.

 

GHANA

May 9, 2001

– 126 people died in Accra at the end of a match between Hearts of Oaks and Kumasi, when Kumasi supporters, angered by their team’s defeat, threw projectiles and broke chairs. Police threw tear-gas grenades, triggering a stampede.

 

ENGLAND

April 15, 1989

–  A crush in the stands at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough Stadium led to the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans during an FA Cup semi-final with Nottingham Forest.

May 11, 1985

– 56 people were killed when a blaze broke out in wooden stands during a match between Bradford and Lincoln City.

 

GUATEMALA

October 16, 1996

– Around 80 spectators lost their lives after being crushed by fans piling into a stand at the Mateo Flores National Stadium for the 1998 World Cup qualifier between Guatemala and Costa Rica.

 

SCOTLAND

January 2, 1971

– 66 people were killed in a crush at the Ibrox Stadium during a Rangers-Celtic derby. It was the stadium’s second disaster, after a stand collapsed in 1902, killing 26 people.

 

EGYPT

February 1, 2012

– The Port Said stadium tragedy in Egypt saw 74 people killed after clashes between rival sets of supporters of local club Al-Masry and Cairo-based Al-Ahly.

February 17, 1974

– 48 people died and 47 were injured when 80,000 people crammed into a stadium with a capacity of 40,000.

 

SOUTH AFRICA

April 11, 2001

– 43 people died during a stampede at Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg during a match between the Orlando Pirates and the Kaizer Chiefs.

January 13, 1991

– 40 died in a crush at an Orlando Pirates-Kaizer Chiefs match.

 

BELGIUM

29 May, 1985

– 39 people were killed at Heysel Stadium in Brussels when Juventus fans tried to flee Liverpool fans.

 

FRANCE

May 5, 1992

– 18 people died and more than 2,300 were injured when a terrace collapsed in Furiani stadium in Corsica.

 

CAMEROON

January 24, 2022

– Eight people were killed and dozens more injured in a crush and stampede prior to an African Cup of Nations match between hosts Cameroon and the Comoros in Yaounde.

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