Major football stadium tragedies

An overturned barrier at the scene of Monday's tragic crush at Yaounde's Olembe stadium

Major football stadium tragedies

AFP Author • AFP • 13:01 - 25.01.2022

Belgium police face British fans at the Heysel stadium in Brussels

The crush that killed eight people and left dozens injured prior to Monday's Africa Cup of Nations last 16 match between hosts Cameroon and the Comoros in Yaounde is the the latest in a long line of football stadium tragedies.

AFP Sport highlights some of the worst:

May 23, 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.

October 20, 1982

 - Mystery still surrounds the total number who died at the end of a UEFA Cup match between Spartak Moscow and Dutch side Haarlem at the Luzniki Stadium resulting from a crush on a stairwell. Officially it remains at 66 -- 45 of them teenagers -- but according to daily newspaper Sovietski sport the numbers are far higher at 340.

May 10, 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.

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.

October 16, 1996

  - Around 80 spectators lost their lives due to 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. 

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.

February 1, 2012

 - The Port Said stadium tragedy in Egypt when 74 people died 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.

April 11, 2001

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

 - January 13, 1991 - 40 deaths during a melee in an Orlando Pirates-Kaizer Chiefs match.

29 May, 1985

 - 39 killed at Heysel Stadium in Brussels when Juventus fans tried to flee Liverpool fans.

May 5, 1992

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

afp

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