History of Soccer Disasters

Timeline created by ewagstaff in History

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Event Date:	Event Title:	Event Description:
03/09/1946	Manchester, England	Some 20,000 fans locked outside broke down the gates and forced their way in, causing a wall to collapse, crushing spectators and starting a stampede which killed 33 people. At the time, it was the worst disaster in British soccer history.
05/24/1964	Lima, Peru	In an Olympic qualifying match, a referee disallowed a Peruvian goal two minutes from time, sparking protests from the fans. The protests soon became a riot. The ensuing violence claimed 318 lives, and resulted in 500 more injured.
06/23/1968	Buenos Aires, Argentina	There are varying accounts of exactly what happened, but the prevailing theory is that spectators mistakenly headed towards a closed exit after the match. The fans at the front were crushed against the doors by other fans behind who were unaware of the closed passageway. Over 70 lost their lives.
01/02/1971	Glasgow, Scotland	As the crowd were leaving the stadium, the handrail on one stairway gave way causing a massive chain-reaction pile-up of spectators. 66 died in the resulting pileup. Most of the deaths were caused by compressive asphyxia, with bodies being stacked as deep as six feet.
10/20/1982	Moscow, Russia	Fans began leaving the stadium before the final whistle, only to hear a goal scored in the last few minutes. The exiting fans turned around, colliding with those still determined to leave. The official number of dead was 66, although the number is disputed. The disaster was initially downplayed by the government. The only original news of incident in Soviet media was this blurb: Yesterday in Luzhniki after the football match an accident occurred. There are some injured among the spectators.
05/11/1985	Bradford, England	During the match, white smoke was seen rising the stands. Flames appeared the referee stopped the match. The fire rapidly took hold 90 seconds later, with the entire main stand then engulfed within two minutes. 56 people died in the blaze, and over 450 were injured.
05/29/1985	Brussels, Belgium	English football fans broke through a fence and attacked Juventus supporters. The Italian fans retreated, but the wall behind them collapsed. The collapse killed 39 people and injured hundreds.
04/15/1989	Sheffield, England	Before the game started, the turnstiles became packed with anxious fans. A bottleneck developed; people who had been refused entry could not leave the area because of the crush behind them but remained an obstruction. Many died standing up from compressive asphyxia. In total, 96 died and 766 were injured.
10/16/1996	Guatemala City	A stampede killed least 78 people and injured about 180 others before a World Cup qualifying match between Guatemala and Costa Rica. Photo: CNN
07/09/2000	Harare, Zimbabwe	A stampede at World Cup qualifier left 13 dead. Photo: CNN
04/11/2001	Johannesburg, South Africa	A stampede in an overcrowded stadium left 47 dead in the Johannesberg league match. People inside were trapped against barbed wire. Photo: AP
02/01/2012	Port Said, Egypt	According to Egyptian state TV, 73 soccer fans were killed in post-game violence. It's an open question why the winning team was the first to rush the field and how security allowed so many bats and knives through the stadium entrance. Read more. Photo: Reuters
Timespan Dates:	Timespan Title:	Timespan Description:
01/01/1940 to 02/03/2012	20th century and beyond