Fans of Universidad de Chile cheer for their team ahead of the Copa Sudamericana round of 16 second leg football match against Argentina's Independiente. Photo / Alejandro Pagni, AFP
Fans of Universidad de Chile cheer for their team ahead of the Copa Sudamericana round of 16 second leg football match against Argentina's Independiente. Photo / Alejandro Pagni, AFP
More than 100 football fans were in custody after Argentine and Chilean supporters fought with knives, sticks, stun grenades, and bathroom fittings during a club knockout match near Buenos Aires.
An official for Argentine side Independiente told AFP that 125 people were arrested after Wednesday night’s abandoned Copa Sudamericana last-16decider against Universidad de Chile.
The Chilean Government said 19 of its citizens had been hospitalised, including one with stab wounds, in some of the worst sporting violence South America has seen in years.
Argentine media reported that three people sustained serious head injuries.
Fans of Independiente kick a gate during the interruption of the Copa Sudamericana match between Argentina's Independiente and Chile's Universidad de Chile. Photo / Alejandro Pagni, AFP
Chilean President Gabriel Boric described the incidents as an “unacceptable lynching” and called for justice.
The violence flared at halftime when fans of the Chilean side began throwing stones, sticks, bottles, and seats at home supporters, an AFP journalist said.
Nestor Grindetti, president of Independiente, accused the visitors of ripping toilets out of the bathrooms and tossing them into the stands.
Players and match officials stood on the pitch hands-on-heads as Independiente fans rushed the visitors’ enclosure – stripping, beating, and bloodying those who could not, or would not, escape.
One Universidad de Chile fan jumped from the upper tier of the stands to escape his attackers, but miraculously managed to survive with non-life-threatening injuries.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino called the violence “barbaric” and called for “example-setting sanctions”.
Conmebol, South America’s football governing body, vowed to act with “the utmost firmness” against those responsible.
Punishments facing the clubs range from fines to disqualification.
Chile dispatched its Interior Minister to Buenos Aires to investigate.
Independiente fans display stolen clothing and brandish sticks in the stands where Universidad de Chile fans were sitting. Photo / Alejandro Pagni, AFP
Friends and relatives of the arrested fans waited outside a police station near the stadium for news.
Victor Cepeda, who travelled to the game from Chile’s capital Santiago with two friends who were arrested, accused the host side of failing to ensure security.
“They don’t know how to organise a match of this size. Everyone knows that things get thrown around,” he told AFP.
‘Miracle no one is dead’
The match was 1-1 when it was suspended in the 48th minute, before being called off.
Universidad de Chile president Michael Clark said two fans were gravely injured and by “miracle no one is dead”.
A bleeding fan of Universidad de Chile after being hit by fans of Independiente. Photo / Alejandro Pagni, AFP
Graphic images of the violence quickly spread on social media.
Players from both sides appealed for action to be taken.
“This level of violence cannot be tolerated,” Chilean international Felipe Loyola, who plays for Independiente, wrote on social media. “I don’t know where the police were.”
As they left the stadium, Independiente fans expressed anger over the policing of the game and the decision to place the visitors in a section near the home fans.
Universidad players left their Buenos Aires hotel for the airport on Thursday without making statements.
The Chilean National Professional Football Association (ANFP) criticised Independiente for what it called it “passivity” in the face of the violence.
Friends and relatives of the detained fans of Universidad de Chile wait for information outside at a police station in Avellaneda, Buenos Aires province. Photo / Luis Robayo, AFP
At least 650 police officers and private security personnel were assigned to the game.
The Minister of Security of the province of Buenos Aires, Javier Alonso, accused Conmebol of taking too long to suspend the match “when it was clear that there was a very hostile attitude”.
South American football is no stranger to fan violence, which has claimed hundreds of lives across the continent in the past 20 years.
In Chile, two fans died in clashes with police outside a stadium in Santiago in April before a Copa Libertadores match between local side Colo Colo and Brazilian club Fortaleza.
