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Football is a beautiful game enjoyed by millions of people around the world but has had its share of disasters in the past either caused deliberately or due to nature and has resulted in tragic loss of life. The amount of disasters has reduced in recent years thanks to various precautionary measures but nothing can be done to erase the past. Heres a list of the top ten greatest football disasters.
#1 The National Stadium Disaster
Date: 24 May 1964
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Location: National Stadium, Lima, Peru
Casualties: 318
The National Stadium Disaster is undoubtedly the deadliest football tragedy in history. The horrific incident occurred during an Olympic qualifying match between Peru and Argentina which took place at the National Stadium in Lima. The two countries shared a heated rivalry which turned deadly on that fateful day when Peru had two goals disallowed. The Peruvian fans started a riot which killed 318 people and caused serious injury to another 500.
#2 The Ghana Disaster
Date: 9 May 2001
Location: Accra Sports’ Stadium, Accra, Ghana
Casualties: 126
This tragic incident occurred at the Accra Sports Stadium during a match between Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko. The police fired tear gas at some unruly fans which led to unrest in the whole stadium. 70,000 people tried to rush out of the stadium at once causing a stampede which killed 126 people and injured many more.
#3 The Guatemala Disaster
Date: 16 October 1996
Location: Mateo Flores National Stadium, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Death Toll: 80+
This deadly incident occurred before a World Cup qualifying match between Guatemala and Costa Rica. Plenty of fans desperately wanted to enter the stadium which caused a stampede resulting in the deaths of over 80 people and injuring 180 more.
#4 The Hillsborough Disaster
15 April 1989
Location: Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield, England
Casualties: 96
The Hillsborough Disaster is one of England’s greatest tragedies and will always be a blot on English football. The unfortunate even occurred during an FA Cup match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. During the match, police opened one of the gates which allowed plenty of fans waiting outside to enter the stadium. The surge of bodies crushed many Liverpool fans injuring 776 of them and killing 96 of them including Steven Gerrard’s 10-year-old cousin who was the youngest victim of the tragedy.
#5 The Katmandu Disaster
Date: 12 March 1988
Location: National Stadium, Katmandu, Nepal
Casualties: 93
The Katmandu Disaster is one of the world’s worst football disasters and was one of the few disasters caused due to natural causes. Around 30,000 fans were watching a match between Nepal and Bangladesh when a strong hailstorm suddenly hit. The fans scrambled for the exits which resulted in a major stampede which killed 93 people.
#6 Port Said Stadium Disaster
Date: 1 February 2012
Location: Port Said Stadium, Egypt
Casualties: 79
The Port Said Disaster is one of the more recent disasters the world has experienced. The incident occurred during a match between two rival teams Al Masry and Al-Ahly which the former won 3-1. After the match thousands of Masry fans made their way to the rival spectators' area and attacked them with weapons which included knives, bottles and swords. 79 people were killed and a 1000 were injured in this senseless event.
#7 Puerta 12 Tragedy
Date: 23 June 1968
Location: Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Casualties: 71+
The Puerta 12 tragedy occurred during a match between Argentine sides River Plate and Boca Juniors. Groups of fans accidentally went towards an exit that was closed after the match and the fans in front were crushed against the doors by the fans at the back who did not know that the doors were closed. Over 71 fans were killed and dozens more were injured.
#8 The Second Ibrox Disaster
Date: 2 January 1971
Location: Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland.
Casualties: 66
The horrible incident occurred during a game between rival Scottish clubs Rangers and Celtic. Many Rangers fans chose to leave the stadium due to Celtic taking the lead but the massive crowd caused the barriers on Stairway 13 to collapse which caused a pile up of supporters. Over 200 fans were injured and 66 killed in this disaster.
#9 The Bradford City Stadium Disaster
Date: 11 May 1985
Location: Valley Parade Stadium, Bradford, England.
Casualties: 56
Bradford City FC witnessed one of the worst football disasters in British history due to fire. The fire is believed to have started after a fan threw a burning cigarette down the gap of a terrace seat which ignited a pile of garbage that had remained under the wooden stand for around 20 years. It wasn’t long before the fire spread and ignited the stands wooden roof which caused burning pieces of tar, wood and metal to fall on the fans below. The fired killed 56 people and injured more than 450. Wooden stands were banned in Britain after the incident.
#10 The Munich Air Disaster
Date: 6 February 1958
Location: Munich Airport, Munich, Germany
Casualties: 23
This incident is one of the saddest in football history as it caused the deaths of 8 young and talented Manchester United players popularly known as the Busby Babes along with a few passengers, supporters and journalists. The plane carrying the Manchester United team that just defeated Red Star Belgrade in the European Cup crashed on the Munich runway due to slush and caused the deaths of 23 passengers and badly injured 21 including United’s legendary manager Sir Matt Busby, striker Bobby Charlton and Johnny Berry. It took ten long years for Busby to rebuild the team that lifted the European Cup in 1968.
