Soccer hooligan clash leaves one dead
A 22-year-old Greek man died on Monday night in a violent altercation involving soccer hooligans ahead of Tuesday’s match between Athens side AEK and visiting Dinamo Zagreb from Croatia.
The young man died of multiple stab wounds inflicted during a brawl between dozens of fans of the two sides, which took place a day before the UEFA Champions League third-qualifying-round match at AEK’s stadium in the Athens suburb of Nea Filadelfia.
Four Greeks and four Croatians were also treated for various injuries, while police made 96 arrests.
According to reports, a big group of around 150-200 Dinamo supporters descended on Athens by road on Monday night, flouting a ban imposed on visitors from Croatia over fears of precisely the kind of clashes that took place.
Police put the motorcade under discreet surveillance, but lost track of the Croatian fans when they left the touring buses they arrived on and made their way to AEK’s OPAP Arena by car and train. There, they reportedly clashed with supporters of the home team who had been hanging out at the cafes and bars around the stadium, where AEK and Dinamo had held a practice earlier.
The Dinamo fans were also joined by several supporters of Athens’ Panathinaikos club, according to reports.
Video footage of the brawl was posted on Twitter by Hooligans.cz.
