[stream=] AEK Athens v Dinamo Zagreb live match 8 August 2023
UEFA postpones AEK Athens-Dinamo Zagreb match after fan killed in brawlDozens arrested, several injured in violent clashes between supporters of rival sides outside AEK’s stadium ahead of Champions League qualifying match. A Greek football fan has been stabbed to death during a brawl between supporters of AEK Athens and Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb. Police said nearly 100 people were arrested after the violent clashes, which led European football’s governing body, UEFA, to postpone the Champions League qualifying third-round, first-leg match between the two sides that was due to be played on Tuesday in Greece’s capital. According to police, the fight broke out more than an hour after the visiting team’s training session ended late on Monday and the team had left the AEK stadium in the Athens suburb of New Philadelphia under police escort.
“Following yesterday’s violence and in consultation with the local authorities, UEFA has decided that the conditions for the match between AEK Athens FC and GNK Dinamo to go ahead tonight are not met, ” the football body said in a statement on Tuesday. “The match planned to be played tonight at Agia Sofia Stadium in Athens is hereby postponed. ” UEFA, though, said the second leg due to be played in Zagreb on August 15 would go ahead while an alternative date will be found for the postponed match – August 18 or 19 being the suggested possibilities. After the deadly brawl broke out outside AEK Athens’ OPAP Arena, 98 arrests were made [Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP] ‘Preventative measures’ Greek news agency ANA said an investigation had been opened and those arrested would appear before the state prosecutor on Tuesday.
AEK said in a statement that its fan was killed by “professional killers, organised criminals who crossed the country and arrived in New Philadelphia from Zagreb to join forces here with Greek criminal accomplices with the sole purpose of killing”. Μιχάλη, η ΑΕΚ δε θα σε ξεχάσει ποτέ! Παραδειγματική τιμωρία για τους δολοφόνους και τους υπεύθυνους! pic. twitter. com/h0ug4XosVx — AEK F. C. (@AEK_FC_OFFICIAL) August 8, 2023 Translation: Mihalis, AEK will never forget you! Exemplary punishment for the murderers and those responsible! The Greek champions demanded that the perpetrators be brought to justice and said it was “self-evident” that inaction “played a decisive role in this crime”.
About 100 to 120 Dinamo Zagreb fans showed up near the stadium, where AEK supporters had gathered, and fans from both sides hurled Molotov cocktails and stones. Greek police said the 29-year-old victim, identified only as Mihalis, was transported from the stadium to an Athens hospital where he died. Three Greek and five Croatian fans were injured and being treated while 98 people were arrested, police added. Those injured included a minor who was hospitalised after being hit in the head by a stone, according to public television channel ERT. UEFA deplored “in the strongest possible terms the appalling incidents” and expressed its sympathy to the victim’s family.