Brazilian police and football authorities traded blame on Wednesday after a brawl broke out ahead of Brazil’s match against arch-rivals Argentina, leaving several injured in what fans called a “predicted tragedy”. Brazilian football fan club association ANATORG said government authorities and the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) were “negligent” in placing rival fans next to each other during Tuesday’s epic clash at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana Stadium without barriers between them.
The 2026 World Cup qualifier, which Argentina won 1-0, had to be postponed for about 30 minutes when rival fans began throwing punches before kick-off. Police fought the fight with batons, leaving some fans with bloodied faces and other injuries.
“The negligence and incompetence of the CBF and security officials resulted in the brawl,” said ANATORG, which warned in a statement on Monday of the risk of violence given the mixed seating plan.
“This was a foretold tragedy,” it said.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino, meanwhile, said there is “absolutely no place for violence in football.”
“Players, fans, staff and officials must be safe,” he wrote on Instagram.
The iconic stadium descended into chaos on Tuesday night as players tried in vain to persuade fans to stop the fight. Argentina captain Lionel Messi led his team back to the dressing room and only returned after the violence had been quelled.
Rio’s state police called the events “regrettable” and accused the CBF of meeting its commanders to discuss security plans only after tickets were sold out with a mixed seating chart.
“The CBF has decided to release tickets for sale without land quotas and, worse, without demarcating individual seating areas,” the CBF said in a statement.
The CBF rejected allegations of negligence.
“State police and other authorities were aware of the plan to use mixed seating, which is the standard for FIFA-organized matches,” the organization said in a statement.
“The organization and planning of the competition was carried out carefully and strategically by the CBF, together with the authorities, especially the police.”
After the match, Messi criticized the police’s “repression” of fans, posting on social media: “This cannot be tolerated! It’s madness, it must stop.”
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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