Police and football officials in Brazil traded blame Wednesday after a fight broke out before Brazil’s game against their biggest foes, Argentina. Several people were hurt in what fans called a “tragedy foretold.”
ANATORG, the association of football fan groups in Brazil, said that the government and the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) were “negligent” when they put rival fans next to each other at Tuesday’s great match in Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium with no walls between them.
Before the 2026 World Cup qualifier started, fans of the two teams started punching each other, which delayed the game for about 30 minutes. Argentina won 1-0. Police used batons to stop the fight, which hurt some fans and left them with bloody faces and other wounds.
“The fight happened because the CBF and security officials were careless and incompetent,” said ANATORG, which had warned Monday that there was a chance of violence because of the mixed sitting plan.
“This tragedy was told would happen,” it said.
In the meantime, Gianni Infantino, head of FIFA, said that “violence has no place in football at all.”
He wrote on Instagram, “Players, fans, staff, and officials have to be safe and sound.”
On Tuesday night, the famous stadium turned into a mess, and players tried in vain to calm down the fans. Lionel Messi, the leader of Argentina, led his team back to the locker room after the fight had stopped.
According to police in Rio de Janeiro, the events were “deplorable,” and they said that the CBF met with its leaders to talk about security plans only after all the tickets had been sold.
“The CBF decided to release tickets for sale without country quotas and, worse, without delimiting separate seating areas,” it stated in a statement.
The CBF denied claims of carelessness.
“State police and other authorities were aware of the plan to use mixed seating, which is the standard for matches organised by FIFA,” a statement said.
“The organisation and planning of the match were carefully and strategically carried out by the CBF, together with the authorities, especially the police.”
Messi said on social media after the game that the police “repression” of fans was wrong, saying, “This can’t be tolerated!” It’s crazy and needs to end “