Serbia-Albania soccer brawl: 6 other troubled matches

The European championship qualifier between Serbia and Albania that erupted into violence after a drone flew an Albanian nationalist banner into the stadium was just the latest international match to be abandoned because of fighting. 

Serbian officials have accused Albania of provoking the incident, and UEFA has opened disciplinary cases against both football associations.

A look at some other high-profile games that were halted because of violence:

More than 20 people required hospital treatment and over 40 were arrested after England fans rampaged inside Lansdowne Road stadium in Dublin shortly after Ireland took the lead in the first half of a friendly match.

Hooligans tore up wooden seats and threw them at opposing fans before battling with Irish police. The game was abandoned after 28 minutes due to crowd disorder.

Thirteen people were crushed to death in a stampede during a World Cup qualifier in Harare that was sparked by police firing tear gas into a section of the National Sports Stadium containing Zimbabwe fans.

Home fans reacted to South Africa scoring its second goal of the game in the 84th minute by throwing bottles and other items onto the field.

The game was abandoned and South Africa was awarded a 2-0 win.

It was the first soccer game between the two countries since Algeria gained independence from France in 1962. The friendly at the Stade de France outside Paris was meant to show brotherhood between them.

Instead, the French national anthem was roundly booed by Algeria fans and chaos erupted on the field after 76 minutes.

With France leading 4-1, a lone Algeria fan ran onto the playing surface brandishing a flag. Moments later, he was joined by dozens of others as stewards struggled to retain order.

A few minutes later, several dozen more fans invaded the pitch and the players walked off. The match was abandoned. 

Pre-game predictions of crowd trouble involving Serbia fans were born out amid violent scenes that led to the European qualifying match in Genoa being abandoned after just six minutes.

The kickoff was delayed by 40 minutes after Serbian fans threw flares at Italy supporters and onto the field. The game got underway but more flares and fireworks were thrown. With some Serbs also clashing with police outside the stadium, Scottish referee Craig Thomson led the teams back into the changing rooms.

One firework landed close to Italy goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano. Italy was awarded a 3-0 win.

Ivory Coast players and supporters were escorted by police out of a stadium in Dakar after rioting by Senegal fans during an African Cup of Nations qualifying match.

Didier Drogba had just given Ivory Coast a 2-0 lead when Senegalese supporters began lighting fires in the stands, causing a haze of smoke over the stadium, and threw objects onto the pitch.

Senegal fans attacked Ivorian supporters and police fired tear gas into the stands.

Dozens of Ivorian fans rushed the field, where both teams congregated in the middle. The match was suspended in the 76th minute and abandoned 45 minutes later.

Cars were driven onto the field to take away Ivorian fans and the Ivory Coast team was hustled out by police holding shields.

Angry over a late penalty call, a drunken Danish fan interrupted a thrilling European Championship qualifier by running onto the field in Copenhagen and aiming a punch at the referee.

Denmark had fallen behind 3-0 but managed to even the score at 3-3 when midfielder Christian Poulsen was sent off for punching Markus Rosenberg in the 89th minute. That led to a penalty being awarded and what intruder Ronni Korvig later called his “moment of idiocy.”

A Denmark player intervened to ensure Korvig did not make contact with the referee, who nonetheless abandoned the match. Sweden was awarded a 3-0 win. In 2012, a court ordered Norvig to pay Denmark’s football federation nearly $320,000 in damages for his attack on the referee.

Brawl-causing drone from Serbia-Albania soccer match found by police

The Associated Press Posted: Oct 16, 2014 9:40 AM ET Last Updated: Oct 16, 2014 9:40 AM ET

Serbian police have found the drone that flew an Albanian nationalist banner over a soccer stadium in Belgrade, igniting a brawl on the field and fuelling political tensions between Balkan rivals Serbia and Albania.

The small drone with four rotors — last seen being carried off by a Serb fan during the stadium brawl Tuesday night — will be checked to see where it was manufactured and purchased and who could have flown it, police chief Nebojsa Stefanovic said Thursday.

He accused Albanians of being “exclusively” to blame for the clashes.

The violence broke out after the drone, dangling a map of Albania enlarged to include chunks of several neighbours, circled over the field during the first half of Tuesday night’s game. The match was later abandoned.

Serbia and Albania have been at odds for decades, mainly over Kosovo, a former ethnic Albanian-dominated Serbian province that declared independence in 2008. Serbia has never accepted Kosovo’s independence.

UEFA, the governing body of European soccer, opened disciplinary cases against both countries over the game. Besides the brawls on the field, the Albanian anthem was loudly jeered by Serbian fans before the game in Belgrade and derogatory chants were heard throughout. Serbian supporters also threw flares and other objects at Albanian players, as well as attacking them on the field.

The Albanian Football Federation said Thursday that its players were repeatedly hit by fans and police and had to endure offensive chants like “Kill the Albanians!” It defended the Albanian players’ decision not to continue the match.

“The AFA is of the opinion that the … mentioned actions negatively impacted the normal conduct of the match, which was ultimately abandoned,” the federation said.

Colombia blanks Canada in international soccer friendly

James Rodriguez scored in the 75th minute as Colombia beat the Canadian men’s national soccer team 1-0 on Tuesday in an international friendly at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey.

Despite a valiant effort for 90 minutes, the Canadian men’s national team found that Colombia, complete with World Cup stars Rodriguez and Radamel Falcao, were just too much to handle.

The Colombians brought pressure in the first half, but Benito Floro’s Canadian squad held well from the back-line, got world-class goalkeeping from Milan Borjan, and even pushed forward, earning a few set pieces.

Florio was happy with the defensive effort but still felt unfulfilled by his side’s performance.

“We played mostly defensively today, not the way we would have liked,” he said through a translator following the match. “We wanted to play a little bit more offensive, but we actually played with them, that was good for us.”

Canada’s best chance, however, may have been negated by a non-call on Alexander Mejia, who appeared to take down forward Tosaint Ricketts.

Ricketts received an excellent through ball from Issey Nakajima-Farran, but the call wouldn’t go the way of Ricketts. Colombia toyed with the Canadian defence, but put nothing through for more than an hour.

Colombia finally scored when a quick restart off a free kick in the 75th minute, it was one touch to Rodriguez from Juan Quintero, and he needed only one touch before driving a bending ball from 25 yards out to beat Borjan. Canada had no time to set up a wall, but Floro felt that was out of a lack of preparedness.

“We discussed this with the players and we told them Colombia were very smart, very quick, and a lot of the set-pieces they work on played the ball quick,” said Floro. “Our players got distracted and (the goal by Rodriguez) was what happened.”

After all of the fancy footwork from Colombia failed to beat the Canadians, it took all the might and craft of the world’s best striker to finally knock them down on Colombia’s fourth shot on target of the game.

Canada brought one last chance to the game in the 90th minute, with substitute Luca Gasparatto finding an open shot just outside the box from a set-up by fellow substitute and University of Connecticut standout Cyle Larin, only to force Camilo Vargas’ lone save of the game. An ensuing free kick proved fruitless, and that was it for the Canadians.

“We had a couple chances, we should’ve scored that chance we have, but at least we got the experience out of it,” Larin said. “When this game was announced, I was amped, ready to play. James scored a great goal, and you can’t take anything away from them.”

A loss is a loss, but the Canadians came away from the match emboldened.

“I think, as a team defensively, we played really good,” said Borjan, who made three saves in net for Canada. “We’re still missing the attack, but we played the third-best country in the world, so I think we did very, very good as a team.

“We had to play well defensively. We have a very young team, inexperience, but we showed tonight that we can play together, and we improved.”

Larin agreed that the loss could be a learning opportunity for Canada.

“They’re a great technical team. It’s a process, and we played really well,” said Larin. “Hopefully in a couple years we’ll be really good and be able to make it to a World Cup.”

With the loss, Canada dropped to 1-4-4 under Floro since his hiring in July of 2013. Their next match will be against Panama in Panama City on Nov. 18.

Indian soccer player dies from goal-celebration injury

The Associated Press Posted: Oct 20, 2014 12:18 PM ET Last Updated: Oct 20, 2014 12:43 PM ET

The Mizoram Football Association says a 23-year-old Indian soccer player has died after injuring his spine while celebrating a goal with somersaults.

Peter Biaksangzuala landed on his back while doing flips last Tuesday in the northeastern state of Mizoram. He died Sunday.

Biaksangzuala scored in the 62nd minute. After his celebration went bad, he was stretchered off the field to a local hospital.

Mizoram Football Association general secretary Lalnghinglova Hmar called Biaksangzuala “a very good and disciplined footballer” who hoped to play in the national I-League.

The football association is planning to organize a match in his memory.