Europa League

THEY once called it the English disease, but football violence is now damaging the image of the beautiful game across Europe – and spreading to other sports.This week Turkey has stopped all footie matches indefinitely after a referee was punched to the ground on the pitch by a club president.
Referee Halil Umut Meler is clobbered by Faruk KocaCredit: Getty
Ref Meler holds his face as Koca looks onCredit: EPA
Meler was in hospital after the attackCredit: Getty
President of the Turkish team MKE Ankaragücü, at the end of Monday’s gameCredit: Getty
And Greece banned fans from top-flight football games for two months after violence erupted between rival volleyball supporters in Athens, severely injuring a police officer.
Meanwhile, France is considering barring away supporters after a fan was stabbed to death ten days ago.
In January an Italian motorway was closed when rival supporters piled into each other, and a year ago crowds of Croatia’s Dinamo Zagreb fans delivered Nazi salutes in unison on the streets of Milan.
Across the continent, authorities are struggling to control hooliganism — often aimed at travelling English fans, who receive massive police protection as continental supporters try to test their reputation for street brawling.
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Two months ago in Milan a Newcastle United fan was stabbed in the stomach by a machete-wielding yob in a balaclava.
This season was Brighton and Hove Albion’s first taste of competitive European football.
But last month in Athens, tear gas aimed by police at riotous fans of the defeated home team AEK ended up choking Brighton supporters.
In May, West Ham players tried to intervene when hooded fans of Dutch side AZ Alkmaar piled into the section of the stadium where the English team’s families were sitting.
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Football’s ruling bodies fear the return of the hooliganism from decades ago, which in 1985 saw English teams banned from Europe for five years after the deaths of 39 mostly Italian fans in the riot at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels.
In August Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said of the violence: “This is the cancer of football and those are not football fans.
“We have to say enough, we have to stop this.”
Then came Monday’s graphic display of football’s ugly side.
Faruk Koca, president of Turkish side MKE Ankaragucu, ran on to the pitch and struck referee Halil Umut Meler in the face, landing him in hospital.
The Turkish Football Federation then indefinitely postponed all games.
Turkey’s “ultra fans” are notorious for carrying weapons, supposedly to kill opponents.
Fenerbahce has a fan group called Kill For You, and in 2000 Galatasaray hooligans stabbed two Leeds United fans to death.
Empty stadiums
There are also stringent new fan restrictions in neighbouring Greece, where on Monday the government announced that teams would have to play in empty stadiums.
It followed two deaths in bloody clashes between supporters this year alone.
In February a 19-year-old student was bludgeoned to death in Thessaloniki just for saying he supported a rival team, then in August a 29-year-old AEK Athens supporter was stabbed to death by a Dinamo Zagreb thug.
And not having matches to attend might not even stop the violence, as fan rivalry spreads between sports.
The ban on football fans came after police were attacked with flares, stones and petrol bombs outside an Athens volleyball stadium last week after a match between Olympiakos and Panathinaikos, who are also bitter football foes.
Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said: “For years, criminals in the guise of fans have been committing serious crimes by critically injuring and killing people.”
Brighton fans experienced those crazed elements at the end of last month in the Greek capital.
The police tried to subdue rioting AEK Athens yobs with tear gas at the end of the game, but it drifted over to the away fans as well, and some Brighton fans had to be treated by paramedics.
Dinamo Zagreb thugs give the Nazi salute on a march last year in MilanCredit: Twitter
Legia Warsaw mob throw flares at police and horses last month at Aston VillaCredit: Reuters
Life-long Seagulls fan Mike Purser, 54, told The Sun: “They tear-gassed their fans who were waiting for us to come out.
“It blew back into the stadium. They locked us in and wouldn’t let us go down, but as soon as it happened, they took us down and gave us water.”
The previous month in Marseille, the risk of things turning ugly meant Brighton fans had to be closely guarded.
The French side’s ultras have attacked their own training ground and have a reputation for being the country’s most rabid fans.
Property developer Mike continued: “Marseille was like a military performance to get to the ground. We had to be there three or four hours before kick-off.
“Coming out was a palaver because they wouldn’t let us go down into the concourse. People were struggling because it was so hot and I saw some people passing out.”
In September three men were arrested outside a Glasgow hostel after fans of Rangers and Spanish side Real Betis clashed following their Europa League match in the city.
The fighting saw windows smashed and security locking the hostel with Betis fans inside in a bid to bring the violence to an end.
Tartan Army fans have a reputation for being boisterous but well-behaved, with recent flashpoints on foreign trips emerging when police target supporters.
Footage of a Spanish cop beating a Scotland fan emerged ahead of the side’s Euro 2024 qualifier in Seville in October.
In February French police came in for criticism when Uefa said that Liverpool and Real Madrid fans could have died because the 2022 Champions League final in Paris was handled so badly by heavy-handed cops.
The authorities already ban away fans from historically troublesome games, but may go further after a Nantes fan died during a fight with Nice supporters earlier this month.
Clash in Naples as police come under attack from Eintracht Frankfurt yobs in MarchCredit: Rex
Trouble after a hooded AZ Alkmaar gang charged Hammers fansCredit: Getty
Trouble often breaks out away from stadiums.
Newcastle fan Eddie McKay, 58, was slashed three times as he walked to his Milan hotel before his side played AC Milan.
It is not uncommon for thugs to find out which bars the English fans are drinking in and to arrive spoiling for a fight.
West Ham supporter Alfie Barker, 33, believes English fans are targeted.
He said: “Two Belgian fans came up to me and my brother in a Brussels bar and asked, ‘Do you want a fight?’ We said no, but they didn’t go away.
“It was just because we were speaking English. We weren’t wearing West Ham kits — I never have the team’s colours on in Europe.”
West Ham supporters have seen a lot of trouble on the European mainland in the past couple of years.
Eintracht Frankfurt fans were filmed charging towards Hammers supporters in a Seville bar in March 2022, Belgian side Anderlecht apologised for their fans throwing seats at West Ham supporters in October that year and at the AFAS Stadion in Alkmaar, Holland in May, the club’s fans were assaulted in their seats.
West Ham boss David Moyes said after the Alkmaar game: “Was I worried? Yeah, my family were there and I had friends in that section.”
Eintracht’s yobs are developing an unsavoury reputation.
This year 50 German police officers were injured by them in Frankfurt and cars were set alight when they clashed with cops in Naples, even though they had been banned from Napoli’s stadium.
But West Ham supporters also got into trouble for throwing objects on to the pitch in Genk, Belgium, and setting off flares in Prague.
Hammers fan Alfie Barker said: ‘I didn’t see trouble at matches until we went into Europe’Credit: The West Ham Way Channel/Youtube
And there are certainly signs that the “English disease” is making a comeback in Britain.
Last season the police made the highest number of arrests at football matches in England and Wales for nearly a decade. In 2022-23 there were 2,264 football-related arrests, up 66 on the previous figure, and the worst since 2013-14.
There have been several pitch invasions, including one in January in which Arsenal keeper Aaron Ramsdale was kicked in the back.
There was also great shame at the Euro 2020 final two years ago when England fans tried to storm into Wembley Stadium.
But the most violent disturbance at a game in recent years in England was arguably the one at Villa Park in Birmingham at the end of November.
Fans from Polish side Legia Warsaw threw flares at police and attacked their horses.
Unless clubs across the Continent can stamp out the rising tide of often organised unrest, families will be afraid to attend matches, while some fans won’t go to Europe for fear of ending up bloodied or bruised.
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For supporters who are not used to the hooliganism of the 1980s it has been a shock.
West Ham fan Alfie added: “I didn’t see trouble at matches until we went into Europe.”
A PSV Eindhoven fan waves a flare at a Dutch league gameCredit: AFP
Panathinaikos fans with their traditional display of pyrotechnicsCredit: Getty More