Queretaro fans banned, owners must sell club after a brutal mass brawl in Liga MX fixture against Atlas
Updated 09/03/2022 at 09:56 GMT
Three people are still said to be in critical condition following Saturday’s brawl, and the league’s president Mikel Arriola, along with head of Mexico’s soccer federation, Yon de Luisa, announced the measures at a joint press conference. “We don’t want criminals in disguise,” said Arriola, in quotes published by the Guardian referring to organised groups of fans being blamed for the violence.
A fan lights a candle during a mass outside Jalisco Stadium in Guadalajara,
Image credit: Getty Images
Queretaro have been ordered to play their home games behind closed doors for a year, after a brutal mass brawl in Saturday’s Liga MX fixture against Atlas.
The other sanctions imposed on Queretaro includes a 1.5m pesos ($70,150) fine, while the top four members of their management team - Gabriel Solares, Adolfo Ríos, Greg Taylor and Manuel Velarde - are banned from any future roles with other teams as the club returns to the previous ownership under Grupo Caliente.
Grupo Caliente have until the end of this year to sell the club, and should they fail to do so, it will be operated under the ownership of Liga MX.
The punishments have been imposed by Mexico’s top-flight men’s football league and the country’s football federation, which have banned the club’s fans from attending games, while the fan clubs known as ‘barras’ will be prohibited from attending away games for three years.
Shocking mobile phone footage emerged of people being brutally beaten and Saturday’s match, which was suspended in the 62nd minute after mayhem broke out in the stands.
Women and children were allowed out of the stadium by security staff, who opened up the gate to the pitch where the fighting quickly escalated. People were seen armed with chairs and metal bars.
There was also fighting in the tunnel, while a substitute bench was destroyed and a fan was seen using a knife to cut the net of one goal.
Three people are still said to be in critical condition following Saturday’s brawl, and the league’s president Mikel Arriola, along with head of Mexico’s soccer federation, Yon de Luisa, announced the measures at a joint press conference.
“We don’t want criminals in disguise,” said Arriola, in quotes published by the Guardian referring to organised groups of fans being blamed for the violence.
There have been claims that the brawl may have involved local criminal gangs fighting those belonging to the Jalisco drug cartel, but this was subsequently dismissed by Jalisco state governor Enrique Alfaro.
“What it seems to me is that what we saw was not a normal dispute between fans,” Alfaro said.
“What happened there was something that looked different.”
Despite this statement, he refused to comment on whether or not other drug gangs were involved in the brawl.
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