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FIFA demands answers from Egypt soccer federation
Blood is seen on a chair one day after supporters clashed at the Port Said stadium Feb. 2. Warning that soccer must not be “abused by those who mean evil,” FIFA President Sepp Blatter demanded detailed reasons from the Egyptian federation Thursday for the stadium riot that killed at least 74 people.
Blatter called for action to prevent a repeat of the post-match violence in a letter to the Egyptian Football Association, whose board was subsequently fired by the prime minister and its members referred for questioning by prosecutors.
Egyptian state TV has raised the death toll to 73 after fans of rival soccer teams rushed the field, hurling stones and sticks at each other and sparking a stampede. State TV cited the Health Ministry and says 1,000 other people were injured in Wednesday’s melee, an incident that one player described as “a war, not football.’
More than 70 people were killed, and 1,000 injured after a soccer pitch invasion in the Egyptian city of Port Said, health ministry sources said, raising the official estimate of the death count from 25.
It was one of the worst incidents of sports violence in Egypt in decades.
A security official and a medic said fans of the home team, Al-Masry, swarmed the field after a rare 3-1 win against Al-Ahly, Egypt’s top team. They threw stones, fireworks, and bottles at the fans and injured some players.
