After losing the right to host the U20 World Cup, Indonesian football continued to leave a bad image when a riot took place that left many fans injured.
Riot at Indonesian football field
Less than a week after being stripped of the right to host the 2023 U20 World Cup, Indonesian football is in trouble because of extremist fans. Accordingly, the match between PSIS Semarang vs PSS Sleman in the framework of Liga 1 had to be postponed because of riots in all the stands.
The Indonesian press said that everything started at the end of the first half. Although the organizers arranged the groups of fans of the two teams to sit in two separate stands, they still could not prevent the clash. The two sides began to curse because, throwing bricks at each other created a chaotic scene.
Even many fans had to find a way to escape by leaving the stands and running down the field. Not to mention, outside the yard, a crowd of fans hiding from tickets to find and break the door and climb into the stands. The atmosphere quickly turned chaotic.
The referee also had to suspend the game at the end of the first half so that security and medical staff could be present to handle the situation. An ambulance was called in to take the fans to the hospital. The stadium organizers at the same time cool down the hot heads of the fans to ease the hostile atmosphere in the stands.
Thanks to the timely intervention from the security and medical teams, no significant casualties were recorded as a result of the riot on Semarang’s field. After the break between the two halves, the referee returned the game and in the end, the home team won 5-2.
Indonesian football is going through a series of unforgettable days. In October 2022, the Kanjuruhan Stadium disaster killed more than 100 people. By the end of March, FIFA officially stripped the team of Van Dao from hosting the U20 World Cup 2023.