On May 29th, 1985, in Bruxelles was going to be played the most important soccer event in Europe: The final match of the Champions league, between Juventus (IT) and Liverpool (UK). At that time they were by far the most popular and winning teams in Europe.

Liverpool fans were also considered very dangerous and called "hooligans". Thousands of Italian and English fans went to the Heysel stadium, which was unsafe and very old, unfit to host such an important event.

Before the match some of the hooligans began to rush toward sectors occupied by some Italian supporters, as they usually did. But that sector was not occupied by their counterpart, it was packed by families and common supporters.

The Liverpool hooligans, probably high on alcohol, kept on rushing and pushing, while the Belgian police was completely incapable to manage the situation, and the Italian fans began to jam against a wall, trying to escape.

Eventually the wall collapsed, due to the pressure of the Italian fans, leaving 39 dead on the ground, crushed by the crowd beside them. The Policemen were just staring at the tragedy, doing absolutely nothing.

All this took place before the match. The match was not cancelled, Juventus won its first Champion league, in front of 39 dead. Later on, all English football teams were banned for 5 years from any European competition.

свернуть