QUERETARO: According to The Mirror, at least 17 people were killed and 22 others were injured when fans began fighting during a football match in Mexico on Sunday.
During the game, fans of the reigning Atlas team clashed with Queretaro fans, forcing the game to be called off in the middle. The Mexican Football Federation has cancelled all of Sunday’s games in the aftermath of the incident.
The game between Queretaro and Atlas was in its 63rd minute at the La Corregidora stadium in Queretaro — the ninth round of the 2022 Clausura football tournament — when fights between opposing fans erupted.
As security guards opened the stadium doors to allow fans to get to safety. However, some of the angry fans instead continued to exchange blows, forcing the game to be stopped and sending the players to the locker room.
Chaotic scenes unfolded, with fans tumbling over each other and others cowering under a shower of furious kicks and punches.
A Video Assistant Referee (VAR) monitor was destroyed during the clashes, with images posted to social media showing injured fans lying prostrate.
“The Mexican Football Federation regrets and condemns the events that occurred this afternoon at Estadio Corregidora in Queretaro, in the match between Queretaro and Atlas,” a statement by Mexican Football Federation said.
“The Mexican Football Federation regrets and condemns the events that occurred this afternoon at Estadio Corregidora in Queretaro, during the game between Queretaro and Atlas,” the Mexican Football Federation said in a statement.
They went on to say that any form of violence in a football game is unacceptable because the goal is “healthy coexistence.”
On Twitter, the executive president of Liga-MX in Mexico slammed the events, writing: “Those responsible for the stadium’s lack of security will be held to a high standard of punishment. Our players’ and fans’ safety is a top priority!”
In a statement, the Atlas club demanded that authorities and the league investigate the fight in order to determine “responsibilities to those involved” and ensure that “the full force of the law will be applied.”
