, April 2008
Belgium Despite Belgian football hooliganism peaking from the 80s to the 90s, it did not disappear even after the establishment of stringent anti-hooligan measures by police and governments.
Royal Antwerp,
Beerschot,
Club Brugge and
Anderlecht are notorious for hooligan fanbases.
Bosnia and Herzegovina Many fans are associated with fascist ideologies, supporting and glorifying extremist movements such as the
Ustaše and the
Nazis. In 2009,
riots between supports of
Bosnian Premier League club sides
NK Široki Brijeg and
FK Sarajevo left
Horde Zla supporter Vedran Puljić (from
Sarajevo) dead from a gunshot wound. Hooliganism has also been present in lower leagues. Riots have been common in Jablanica because fans of different clubs tend to meet and clash there.
Bulgaria A 2019 Euro qualifying match between Bulgaria and England was suspended twice to remove fans that had been taunting black English players.
Raheem Sterling said that he had heard masked groups making monkey sounds and performing Nazi salutes and throwing objects onto the pitch. After the match Bulgarian police officers were called in to escort the English fans to the safety of their hotels protecting them from the hooligans that had been removed earlier on during the match.
Croatia Football hooliganism in
Croatia has seen riots over inter-ethnic resentments and the politics that were reignited by the breakup of the
Yugoslav federation in the 1990s. Two of the best known
hooligan firms are
Torcida (
Hajduk Split) and
Bad Blue Boys (
Dinamo Zagreb).
On 13 May 1990 (before the breakup of Yugoslavia), Serbian club
Red Star Belgrade was in
Zagreb to play
Dinamo Zagreb at the
Maksimir Stadium. Red Star was accompanied by 3000 Delije, the organised supporters of the club. Before the match a number of small fights broke out. Police reinforcements soon arrived with
armoured vehicles and
water cannons, focusing to separate the fans. Dinamo's player
Zvonimir Boban kicked one policeman, defending a Dinamo's fan beaten by the police. The fighting lasted for over an hour and hundreds of people were injured. Ethnic tension between Croats and Serbs has also led to fighting at a football match in Australia. On 13 March 2005,
Sydney United (who have a large Croatian following and were established by Croatian immigrants) and
Bonnyrigg White Eagles (who have a large Serbian following and were established by Serbian immigrants) met in Sydney in the
New South Wales Premier League. About 500 fans clashed, resulting in two police officers getting injured and five fans being arrested.
Football NSW held an inquiry into the events. Both clubs denied that the fight was racially motivated or that there was any ethnic rivalry. Croatian hooligans are also notorious for staging large illegal pyroshows at stadiums, where signal flares and smoke bombs are hurled onto the pitch causing postponement or cancellation of the match. A large incident occurred in 2003 in Rome during the Hajduk-Roma match when 900 Torcida fans threw signal flares at Roma fans resulting in various injuries and clashes with the police. Another incident occurred in
Genoa in 2007 when masked Torcida fans attacked the police with bricks, bottles and stones. Rioting continued in the stadium when Torcida fans threw chairs into the pitch and made
Nazi salutes. A riot occurred in 2006 in
Osijek during the Osijek-Dinamo match. Several clashes between the Bad Blue Boys and
Kohorta occurred before the match in which one Osijek fan received several stab wounds after which Osijek fans attacked the police and Dinamo fans with signal flares and stones. A large riot occurred in 2008 in
Prague prior to the
Sparta Prague-Dinamo match. Riots were ignited with the support of Sparta's ultrafans to Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić. Approximately 500 Bad Blue Boys rioted in the city centre, breaking into shops and attacking police with chairs, signal flares and stones. Approximately 300 Bad Blue Boys were detained and eight police officers were injured. Prior to the riots some Bad Blue Boys provoked local
Romani people by giving Nazi salutes. A large riot occurred on 1 May 2010 at the
Maksimir stadium when the Bad Blue Boys clashed with the police resulting in many arrests and one critically injured police officer. After the match violent clashes continued in which one Dinamo fan was shot by police officers. A large incident occurred in 2009 prior to the
FC Timişoara-Dinamo match. 400 Bad Blue Boys rioted in the city centre and attacked local people. After the incident
Romanian police detained a large number of Dinamo fans but the situation escalated again at the FC Timişoara stadium when 200 Bad Blue Boys tore down the pitch fence and attacked the police with chairs and bats resulting in several injured police officers. During the clash, Dinamo fans fired signal missiles at FC Timişoara fans resulting in severe injuries. In December 2010, 10–15 Tornado (
Zadar) hooligans attacked a
Partizan traveling coach with stones and bricks resulting in one injured person. In December 2010, 30–40
Bad Blue Boys hooligans attacked a
PAOK traveling coach with stones, bricks and flares setting the traveling coach on fire and inflicting injuries on several passengers. In November 2014, during a
Euro 2016 qualifying game in
Milan, Italy, hooligans from Croatia threw flares and fireworks onto the field and the game had to be briefly suspended. In August 2023, an
AEK Athens fan was stabbed to death when around 100 Dinamo Zagreb hooligans clashed with local fans in one of the city's suburbs. The two sides of supporters attacked one another near the AEK stadium, throwing stun grenades, stones, incendiary devices and other objects. Police made 96 arrests throughout the night until the early hours of the morning. 102 Croatian fans were charged by the police who suspect links with the "Bad Blue Boys", hard-line supporters of Dinamo Zagreb.
Cyprus Football hooliganism in Cyprus has been an issue for the past few decades and incidents are generally associated with the 5 major Cypriot clubs.
Anorthosis Famagusta FC fans have been involved in many incidents on most occasions involving their ultras group "Mahites". The two clubs in Limassol,
AEL Limassol and
Apollon Limassol have also been involved in numerous incidents, especially in recent years. Supporters of
APOEL FC and
AC Omonia Nicosia, the two most successful and most popular clubs in the country are notorious for hooliganism. The most violent cases of hooliganism in Cyprus usually involve the two teams. In May 2009 APOEL fans entered the Omonia stand and engaged in fistfights with Omonia fans eventually throwing one down the stand stairs. 6 months later in November fans of the two teams clashed close to the
GSP Stadium when APOEL fans tried to hijack a futsal tournament organized by Omonia. Many were injured including an APOEL fan who was almost beaten to death. The rivalry between Omonia and APOEL has its roots in politics. APOEL fans are in their majority right wing whereas Omonia fans tend to be left wing. Communist symbols in the Omonia stand and right wing or even fascist symbols in the APOEL stand are not uncommon. The Limassol rivalry between Apollon and AEL Limassol is more a matter of what team dominates over the city. Hooliganism in the case of Anorthosis is also politically linked, especially when the club plays a left wing team such as Omonia. Other incidents between clubs of different cities that are of the same political orientation are associated with intercity rivalries, particularly when a club from Limassol faces a club from Nicosia. There is a long-standing north–south rivalry between PSG (representing Paris and by extension northern France) and
Olympique de Marseille (representing the South of France) which has encouraged authorities to be extremely mobilised during games between the two teams. Violent fights and post-game riots including car burning, and shop windows smashing have been a regular fixture of PSG-OM games. In 2000, the bitter rivalry turned particularly violent when a Marseille fan was seriously injured by a projectile. On 24 May 2001, fifty people were injured when fighting broke out at a match between PSG and Turkish club
Galatasaray at the
Parc des Princes stadium. PSG were initially given a record $571,000 fine, but it was reduced on appeal to $114,000. Galatasaray was initially fined $114,000 by UEFA, but it too was eventually reduced to $28,500. In May 2001, six PSG fans from the Supporters Club, were arrested and charged with assault, carrying weapons, throwing items on the pitch and racism. The six were alleged to have deliberately entered a part of the Parc des Princes stadium where French fans of
Turkish origin were standing, in order to attack them. The six were banned from all football stadiums for the duration of their trial. On 24 November 2006 a PSG fan was shot and killed by police and another seriously injured during fighting between PSG fans and the police. The violence occurred after PSG lost 4–2 to
Israeli club
Hapoel Tel Aviv at the Parc des Prince in a
UEFA Cup match. PSG fans chased a fan of Hapoel Tel Aviv, shouting racist and anti-Semitic slogans. A plainclothes police officer who tried to protect the Hapoel fan was attacked, and in the chaos, one fan was shot dead and another seriously injured. In response, the French Interior Minister,
Nicolas Sarkozy held a meeting with the president of the French Football League, Frederic Thiriez to discuss racism and violence in football. The director-general of the French police, Michel Gaudin, insisted that measures against football hooliganism had reduced racist incidents to six that season from nineteen in the previous season. Gaudin also stated that 300 known hooligans could be banned from matches. The fan who was shot, was linked with the
Boulogne Boys, a group of fans who modelled themselves on British hooligans in the 1980s. The group's name comes from the
Kop of Boulogne (KOB), one of the two main home fan stands at the Parc des Princes. The KOB themselves held a silent memorial march attended by 300 and accused the police office of murdering the fan. They cited bias in the French press who had only given a "one-sided" account of the incident. Before a home match against
Sochaux on 4 January 2006, two
Arab youths were punched and kicked by
white fans outside the entrance to the KOB. During the match racist insults were aimed at black players and a PSG player of
Indian origin,
Vikash Dhorasoo was told to "go sell peanuts in the metro". Because of this, both countries were given a disqualification warning soon after. The match ended with 1–1. On 16 April 2017, during a match between
Olympique Lyonnais and
SC Bastia, supporters of SC Bastia
invaded the pitch in an attempt to fight Lyonnais players. The match was then postponed. September 2022 saw
OGC Nice and
1. FC Köln fans clash outside and inside the Nice stadium, which delayed the start by 55 minutes, 39 were injured with around 50 Cologne fans attacking the home end throwing pyrotechnics. In 2022 there was
chaos at the UEFA Champions League final with dozens of arrests and hundreds of injured, mainly to Liverpool fans who were locked out of the stadium and being attacked by Parisian gangs. French police did not go to their assistance, and instead also attacked the fans and then blamed them for the situation. A UEFA report blamed UEFA for poor security and French police for being heavy handed in attacking, rather than defending, the Liverpool fans.
Germany with masked faces in a match between
FC Carl Zeiss Jena and FC Berlin on 8 April 1990. The 18-year old supporter of
FC Berlin Mike Polley was killed by several shots fired by police in Leipzig during clashes between supporters of FC Berlin and police before the match between
FC Sachsen Leipzig and FC Berlin on 3 November 1990. In June 1998, after a
FIFA World Cup match in France between
Germany and Yugoslavia a French policeman was beaten to the point of brain damage by German fans. Following the incident, German police contacted many of the known 2,000+ German hooligans to warn them they would be arrested if they traveled to upcoming matches in France. A German fan was arrested in 1998 and charged with attempted murder and in 1999, four more Germans were convicted in the attack. The main defendant, Andre Zawacki, was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to ten years in jail. The other three defendants were convicted of grievous bodily harm and given jail sentences of between six months and three-and-a-half years. In 2001, Markus Warnecke, the German fan who was accused of leading the attack, was found guilty and jailed for five years and banned from France for ten years, and from all sports facilities for five years. s before a FC Carl Zeiss Jena and FC Berlin match in Berlin in April 1990. Some football hooliganism in Germany has been linked to
neo-Nazism and far right groups. In March 2005, German football fans fought with police and rival fans at a
friendly match between Germany and
Slovenia in
Celje,
Slovenia, damaging cars and shops, and shouting
racist slogans. The
German Football Association (DFB) apologised for the behaviour. As a result, 52 people were arrested; 40 Germans and 12 Slovenians. Following a 2–0 defeat to
Slovakia in
Bratislava,
Slovakia, German hooligans fought with the local police, and six people were injured and two were taken into custody. The DFB again apologised for fans who chanted racist slogans. In June 2006, Germany beat
Poland in a
World Cup match in
Dortmund, which led to violent clashes. The police detained over 300 people in Dortmund and German fans threw chairs, bottles and
fireworks at the police. Of the 300 arrested, 120 were known hooligans. In October 2006, a task force was established to deal with violence and racism in German football stadiums. President of the DFB
Theo Zwanziger and president of
Bundesliga Werner Hackmann held a crisis meeting following violence at several German lower-division matches. The worst incident took place at a
Third division (North) match between the
Hertha BSC Berlin B-team and
Dynamo Dresden, in which 23 policemen were injured. Dynamo Dresden fans tried to invade the pitch, and threw missiles (including gas cartridges and plastic seats) at police. The police responded with batons and
pepper spray. At a
Second Division match between
FC Augsburg and
1860 Munich, 21 people were arrested and police used pepper spray to disperse fans. In addition, 70 amateur and youth matches in
Siegen-Wittgenstein were called off when referees refused to take to the pitch, fearing for their safety. In February 2007 in
Saxony, all German lower league matches, from the fifth division downward were cancelled after about 800 fans attacked 300 police officers (injuring 39 of them) after a match between
Lokomotive Leipzig and
Erzgebirge Aue II. There were minor disturbances after the Germany and England match during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. An English flag was burned down amongst a mob of German supporters in
Duisburg-Hamborn in Germany.
Greece The first incidents between Football fans in Greece were recorded in June 1930, after the match between
Aris and
Panathinaikos at Thessaloniki. While Panathinaikos fans where arriving at the port of
Piraeus from
Thessaloniki, Olympiacos fans, who had not forgotten the big loss of their team (8–2) by
Panathinaikos rioted with the green fans. In 1962, after
Panathinaikos and
PAOK match incidents, newspapers wrote for the first time that hooligans vandalized
Leoforos Alexandras Stadium. On 19 November 1966, a big flag at the 13th gate of
Leoforos Alexandras Stadium announced the arrival of a new group on the scene.
Gate 13 would be the first organized group that over the years became a part of the club by affecting club decisions and by following the club on all possible occasions.
PAOK fans made
Gate 4 in 1976 and
Olympiacos fans created the
Gate 7 in 1981, the same year that
AEK Athens fans created the
Original 21. In 1982, in a match between
Aris –
PAOK, Aristidis Dimitriadis was stabbed and later died in Thessaloniki's hospital. On 26 October 1986, at the
Alcazar Stadium of
Larissa, Charalambos Blionas, an
AEL supporter, was killed by a flare pistol thrown by the PAOK fans. One month later Anastasios Zontos was stabbed to death in
Omonoia square in the center of Athens before the match
AEK Athens and
PAOK. In January 1991, before the derby of
AEK Athens. and
Olympiacos, George Panagiotou died in the incidents between hooligans outside
Nikos Goumas Stadium hit by flare pistol. On 10 April 1991, after the
Greek Basketball Cup final between
Panionios and
PAOK in
Piraeus, a car with PAOK supporters were violently attacked with an improvised molotov cocktail by unknown hooligans on
Greek National Road 1. Two people burned alive and other two people were seriously injured, but they survived. The perpetrators were never found. On 15 May 2005, in
Thessaloniki derby between
Iraklis and
Aris, Aris's hooligans called
SUPER 3 invaded the pitch when the score was 2–1 for Iraklis. A football player
Tasos Katsambis was injured during the clashes. The match was halted and
Aris was punished with a 4-point deduction which led to their relegation to the
Second Division. In April 2007, all sports stadiums were closed down in
Greece for two weeks following the death of a fan in a pre-arranged fight between hooligans in
Athens on 29 March. The fight involved 500 fans of rival
Super League Greece clubs
Panathinaikos, which is based in Athens, and
Olympiacos, which is based in nearby
Piraeus. The
Greek government immediately suspended all team sports in Greece and severed the ties between teams and their supporters' organizations. A
Third Division match between
Panetolikos and
Ilioupoli was stopped for thirty minutes when players and fans clashed following a Panetolikos disallowed goal. Two players and a coach were sent to the hospital. On 18 April, rival fans clashed with each other and riot police in
Ioannina during and after a
Greek Cup semi-final match between local rivals
PAS Giannina and
AEL. There was trouble during the game in which AEL won 2–0. Fans set fire to
rubbish bins and smashed shop windows, while police tried to disperse them by firing tear gas. On 10 October 2009, a group of about 30 hooligans disrupted an under-17 match between the academies of local rivals
PAOK and
Aris. Among the injured were a group of Aris players and their coach, a veteran PAOK player and another official. On 7 October 2011, a group of
Greece national football team supporters firebombed the away section of a
Euro 2012 qualifying match against
Croatia in
Athens. On 18 March 2012, during the match for the Super League in
Athens Olympic Stadium between
Panathinaikos and
Olympiacos, home team Panathinaikos's fans who were inside the stadium attacked police forces with Molotov bombs, causing extended damages to the stadium, while police forces were unable to keep peace. On 5 January 2014, in
Aigaleo, a suburb in
Athens, the local team
Aigaleo was hosting
AEK Athens, a
Third Division match. Before the match clashes broke up between AEK and Aigaleo fans. Indeed, the clashes resulted in the arrest of a security guard of the stadium who was accused of participating in the clashes among Aigaleo hooligans and also accused of committing attempted murder against an AEK fan. On 15 September 2014, in
Nea Alikarnassos, the team Herodotus was hosting
Ethnikos Piraeus, a
Third Division match. On 75' minute of the game, a clash between the supporters of the two clubs forced the referee to stop the match. During the clash, a 45-year-old supporter of Ethnikos Piraeus suffered a severe head injury and died two weeks later. On 1 February 2022 an Aris fan, Alkis Kampanos, was stabbed to death by PAOK hooligans in Theodorou Gazi Street, Charilaou region of Thessaloniki, near the stadium of Aris in an attack against Aris' supporters. On July 6, 2023, it was announced that all 12 offenders were declared guilty, with seven of them sentenced to serve the rest of their lives in prison. The other five individuals were given prison terms ranging from 19 to 20 years. In December 2023, following a series of violent sport related incidents, Greece banned fans from watching all Super League 1 championship football games for two months, the ban can also be applied to home European games matches. In 2025, during a
FCA Winners' Championship match between
Pelopas Kiatou and
Ionikos, in which Ionikos won 0-1, there were violent episodes in which rocks and bottles were thrown at Ionikos' players.
Hungary Local derbies between
Budapest teams
Ferencvárosi Torna Club (based in
Ferencváros) and
Újpest FC (based in
Újpest) are frequently occasions for violence between supporters.
Ireland Incidents have been known to occur at games involving teams in Ireland. The most heated and well known derby in the
League of Ireland is between Dublin rivals
Shamrock Rovers F.C and
Bohemian F.C. On 15 July 2019 a League of Ireland match was the scene of crowd trouble following a match between Dublin clubs
UCD and
Bohemians. Missiles were thrown from the crowd where the referee and players had to be escorted away.
Italy The term
ultrà or
ultras is used to describe hooligans in Italy. Italy's ultras started in the late 1960s and early 1970s, as wannabe paramilitary groups, and gave themselves names such as Commandos, Guerrillas and Fedayeen. One group of
Juventus' ultras are called Droogs (named after the violent types in
A Clockwork Orange). John Foot, a professor of modern Italian history at University College London and an author on Italian football states: "They target the
buttocks because the victim is not likely to die. They want to show they can hurt their rivals and get away with it." After a weekend of violence in January 2007, the president of the
Italian Football Federation (FIGC) threatened to halt all league football. An official of amateur club Sammartinese died when he was caught up in a fight between players and fans in
Luzzi, among numerous incidents of disorder in
Florence,
Bergamo and elsewhere. In February 2007, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) suspended all football matches after Police Officer
Filippo Raciti was killed due to liver damage from blunt object trauma when
football violence broke out at a
Serie A match between
Catania and
Palermo. Before the
2014 Coppa Italia Final in Rome between Napoli and Fiorentina, three Napoli fans were shot outside the stadium before the match, two with arm injuries. Ciro Esposito, who was in a critical state after being shot in the chest, died in hospital on 25 June. Police, who found the gun, have stated that they do not believe that the shootings were related to other clashes by the two sets of fans: prior to the game, there were reports of
firecrackers and other projectiles being thrown between them in the Tor di Quinto area of Rome. Kick-off was subsequently delayed as Napoli fans did not want the match to start without knowing the condition of the shot fans. When match organisers attempted to speak to the Napoli fans, accompanied by their midfielder
Marek Hamšík, they were "pelted with flares and smoke bombs". Daniele De Santis, a Roma
ultra was convicted of shooting Esposito and was sentenced to 26 years in prison on 24 May 2016; his sentenced was later reduced on appeals to 16 years on 26 September 2018.
Montenegro In a
Euro 2016 qualifying match in
Podgorica on 27 March 2015, a few seconds in, a hooligan threw a flare at
Russia goalkeeper
Igor Akinfeev injuring him. The match was then temporarily suspended. Later fighting between the teams and more hooliganism rendered the game abandoned. In March 2019, during a
Euro 2020 qualifying match between Montenegro and
England, several England players including
Danny Rose,
Raheem Sterling and
Callum Hudson-Odoi were allegedly subjected to monkey chants from Montenegro fans.
Netherlands The earliest recorded case of hooliganism in the Netherlands occurred when
Rotterdam club
Feyenoord and English club
Tottenham Hotspur met at the 1974
UEFA Cup Final, where Tottenham hooligans destroyed portions of the Feyenoord stadium tribunes. It was the first time the Netherlands encountered such destructive hooliganism. The most violent rivalry is between Ajax and Feyenoord. A particularly serious incident was the so-called "
Battle of Beverwijk" on 23 March 1997, in which several people were seriously injured and one killed. The 2002–03 season was marked by similar incidents, and also by fighting between fans of Ajax and FC Utrecht. 's
Philips Stadion Hooliganism in the Netherlands peaked in the 1980s and 1990s. In later years it declined due to measures taken. Hooliganism still occurs from time to time but the prevalence within the stadiums has declined. Other serious incidents include: • 16 June 1990, English fans were arrested for brawling before a World Cup match against the Netherlands in Italy. • 26 April 1999, 80 hooligans were arrested for rioting after Feyenoord won the title after having played
NAC Breda. • 19 February 2015, Feyenoord hooligans attacked Italian police with glass bottles and firecrackers in
Piazza di Spagna before Europa League match
A.S. Roma-
Feyenoord,28 Dutch fans were arrested. • 2023 saw a PSV Eindhoven supporter attack Sevilla's Serbian goalkeeper in February, 150 fans arrested in May for chanting anti-Semitic slogans on their way to a match and
AZ Alkmaar fans wearing black hoods attacked
West Ham United F.C. supporters in a fan zone in May.
Poland Football hooligans in Poland are commonly known under Polish terms
pseudokibice or
kibole. One of the biggest riots occurred at a
World Cup qualifying match between Poland and England on 29 May 1993 in
Chorzów. Arranged football hooligan fights in Poland are known as
ustawki; they have become common in Poland since the late 1990s. On 30 March 2003,
Polish police arrested 120 people after rival football supporters fought during a match between
Śląsk Wrocław and
Arka Gdynia. During the
riot, hooligans pelted police officers with stones and fought a running battle with knives and axes. One victim was seriously injured and later died in hospital. During the
1998–99 UEFA Cup, a knife was thrown at Italian footballer
Dino Baggio, from
Parma F.C. by Polish supporters (allegedly
Wisła Kraków fans), injuring his head. Supporters of
Legia Warszawa also attracted negative attention in Lithuania during the match against
Vetra Vilnius on 10 July 2007, where hooligans of Legia destroyed the home's team field and received a 2-year ban from all European Competitions. The most notable hooligan incidents happened in
Kraków where supporters of the
Wisła Kraków and
KS Cracovia teams have a rivalry that reportedly extended to killings of opposing fans. Country-wide riots involving football fans were seen in
1998 in Słupsk and
2015 in Knurów.
Russia Football hooliganism has become prevalent in Russia since the beginning of the 2000s. Hooligans are commonly associated with teams such as
FC Spartak Moscow (Gladiators, Shkola, Union),
PFC CSKA Moscow (Red Bluу Warriors, Gallant Steeds, Yaroslavka, Kids, Einfach Jugend),
FC Dynamo Moscow (Capitals, 9-ka),
FC Torpedo Moscow (Tubes, TroubleMakers),
FC Lokomotiv Moscow (Red-Green's, Vikings, BHZ, Trains Team) – all from Moscow – and
FC Zenit (Music Hall, Coalition, Snakes Firm) from
Saint Petersburg,
FC Rostselmash (Wild Legion) from
Rostov-on-Don. Russian hooligans often show an underlying resentment towards Russia's perceived political rivals. At the
UEFA Euro 2016 tournament, 50 Russian fans were deported and the international team fined €150,000 following
co-ordinated violent attacks. , Russia: broken chairs and seats.
Serbia in Serbia The most prominent groups of hooligans are associated with
Belgrade and
Serbia's two main clubs,
Red Star Belgrade and
Partizan Belgrade. They are known as the
Delije ("Heroes") and
Grobari ("Gravediggers"), respectively.
FK Rad is a less-successful Belgrade club, whose associated hooligans, known locally as "
United Force", have notoriously been involved in many violent incidents. On 2 December 2007, a police officer was seriously injured when he was attacked during a
Serbian Superliga match between
Red Star Belgrade and
Hajduk Kula. The officer was attacked with burning flares and broken seats and he had to fire warning shots in the air in self-defence. He was treated for burns, cuts and bruises in a nearby hospital. The following day, the
Football Association of Serbia requested government help to help crack down on football hooliganism in the country. On 14 April 2008 a football fan was killed near
Novi Sad after clashes between
FK Partizan's
Grobari and fans of
FK Vojvodina. That same week, after a Red Star Belgrade-Partizan cup match, three people were injured and a bus destroyed by hooligans. in Prague. On 19 September 2008 a Serbian football hooligan was sentenced to ten years in jail for an attack against a police officer at a
Red Star Belgrade–
Hajduk Kula game. On 12 October 2010 Serbia's Euro 2012 Qualifying clash with Italy was abandoned after only 6 minutes after several Serbian fans threw flares and fireworks onto the pitch and caused severe trouble in and out of the ground. Partizan Belgrade were disqualified from the UEFA Cup, after crowd trouble in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina. Partizan fans threw flares and stones and fought with supporters of Zrinjski Mostar and police. Fourteen Partizan fans were convicted for the murder of
Toulouse FC fan Brice Taton in Belgrade. They attacked him and other fans with baseball bats and flares while wearing surgical masks. The hooligans received up to 35 years in prison. In 2014, an
Albania Serbia match saw all Albanian fans banned, the match progressed with abuse directed at Albanian players as well as threats and physical objects thrown, resulting in the match being abandoned.
Spain Football
hooliganism in Spain arises from three main sources. The first is racism, as some
black players have been victims of
ethnic slurs.
Samuel Eto'o, a former
FC Barcelona player from
Cameroon, has denounced the problem. Many black foreign players have been racially abused, such as at a 2004 friendly match between Spain and England, in which black England players such as
Shaun Wright-Phillips and
Ashley Cole endured
monkey chants from Spain supporters. The second source is the strong
rivalry between
Real Madrid and Barcelona. After transferring from Barcelona to Real Madrid,
Luís Figo's appearance in Barcelona's
Nou Camp stadium triggered a strong reaction: the crowd threw bottles, mobile phones and other objects (including a pig's head). Although nobody was injured the match was followed by a large discussion on fan violence in the Spanish
Primera División. Hooliganism is also rooted in deep political divisions arising from the
General Franco fascist regime days (some
Real Madrid,
Atlético Madrid,
Espanyol,
Real Betis and
Valencia ultras are linked to franquista groups), others with communist leanings (such as
Deportivo La Coruña,
Athletic Bilbao,
Sevilla,
Celta de Vigo,
Rayo Vallecano) and the independence movements in
Catalonia,
Galicia and the
Basque region. In Spain, organized hooligan groups are popularly called
grupos ultra. Three notorious ones are the
Boixos Nois, the Frente Atlético and the Ultras Sur, supporter groups of FC Barcelona, Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid respectively. There also have been local or regional disputes between rival teams, for example between
Cádiz and
Xerez, Betis and Sevilla,
Osasuna and
Real Zaragoza, or Deportivo de La Coruña and Celta. In 1991,
Frederiq Roiquier, a French supporter of Espanyol was killed by FC Barcelona hooligans who mistook him for a rival hooligan. In 1992, a 13-year-old child died at Espanyol's stadium after being struck by a flare. In 1998, Aitor Zabaleta, a supporter of
Real Sociedad, was killed by an Atlético Madrid hooligan who was linked to a neo-Nazi group (Bastión), just before a match between these two teams. In 2003, a supporter of
Deportivo La Coruña was killed in riots by hooligans following his club, when he tried to protect a supporter of the opposing team,
SD Compostela. Since then, authorities have made attempts to bring hooliganism under control. In 2007, there were acts of hooliganism before a match between Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid, with several cars being destroyed and policemen injured by flares and bottles which were thrown at them. Hooligan violence in Spain has decreased since the late 1990s due to an alcohol ban in sporting events as well as hooligan laws which attempt fines up to 600,000 euros and stadium bans. Since 2003 the FC Barcelona hooligans, the Boixos Nois, are not allowed to enter
Camp Nou. The hardcore Barcelona hooligans subgroups were involved in police operations against organized crime. In 2008, after a hooligan incident versus Espanyol, FC Barcelona very publicly took a stand on violence, saying it hoped to stamp out violence for good. In 2007 Atlético Madrid hooligans clashed with Aberdeen FC hooligans prior to a
UEFA Cup match. In 2009 and 2010, Atlético hooligans also clashed with
FC Porto and
Sporting Clube de Portugal groups in Portugal during
UEFA Cup games. During crowd disorder control manoeuvres after a match between Athletic Bilbao and
FC Schalke 04, home supporter (who was not involved in hooliganism) was shot in the head with a '
Flash-ball' fired by a member of the
Ertzaintza police service and later died. Later that year a Rayo Vallecano hooligan was arrested during riots in 14 November general strike and accused of terrorism. In 2014, debate about eradicating Spanish hooligans arose after Frente Atlético members caused the death of a Riazor Blues (Deportivo La Coruña radicals) member by throwing him into the
Manzanares river; and after members of the Boixos Nois stabbed two
PSG supporters in Barcelona. In 2016, football-related violence came once again to the public debate after a fight between Sevilla and
Juventus supporters that occurred the day before their
UEFA Champions League group stage match. Two Juventus supporters were stabbed (one of them was seriously injured but survived after being hospitalised) and a Sevilla supporter was hospitalized with head wounds caused by a glass bottle. Similarly, clashes between
Spartak Moscow and Athletic Bilbao fans in 2018 received wider attention when one of the police officers involved in controlling the situation collapsed and died.
Sweden Hooliganism began in Sweden in the early 20th century among fans of
IFK Göteborg and
Örgryte IS who clashed after and during derbies in
Gothenburg. Modern hooliganism began in 1970 when fans of
IFK Göteborg invaded the pitch, destroyed the goalposts and fought the police at the end of a match that relegated Göteborg from the
Allsvenskan. Hooliganism in Sweden became a growing problem in the 1980s, but pitch invasions and violence at football grounds decreased in the late 1990s, when hooligan firms started pre-arranging their fights away from the grounds and the regular supporters. Seven clubs that have large organised hooligan firms are
AIK (Firman Boys),
IFK Göteborg (Wisemen)
Djurgårdens IF (Djurgårdens Fina Grabbar (DFG))
Hammarby IF (Kompisgänget Bajen (KGB))
Malmö FF (True Rockers)
GAIS (Gärningsmännen) and
Helsingborgs IF (Frontline), though several other football, bandy and ice hockey clubs have active hooligan followings. In November 2002, 12 members of the Wisemen stood trial for inflicting life-threatening injuries on a
Hammarby fan in 2001. The second fatality occurred in March 2014, when a 43-year-old
Djurgården supporter was killed in
Helsingborg in an assault on his way to Djurgården's opening match in the
2014 Allsvenskan against
Helsingborg. After the man's death became known, Djurgården supporters invaded the pitch after 42 minutes of play, prompting officials to abandon the match.
Switzerland Despite a reputation for generally being peaceful, Switzerland has faced significant issues with football hooliganism since the beginning of the 1980s, as in other European countries. In October 2018, Swiss Federal and Cantonal authorities noted that every third football game in Switzerland in the preceding six months had been marked by violent incidents. Statistically, most incidents involving militant supporters occurred in
Zürich.
Instances of hooliganism Switzerland's most severe incident, dubbed the
2006 Basel Hooligan Incident, 13 May 2006, occurred on the last day of the 2005–06 season, when
FC Zürich defeated
FC Basel at
St. Jakob Park to win the Swiss championship with a last-minute goal. After the final whistle, angry Basel hooligans stormed the field and attacked Zürich players. The Zürich team were forced to celebrate in the upper deck of the stands while the fighting continued. There was similar fighting in the streets that night. Switzerland's
second most severe incident, happened October 2, 2011, during the
Zurich Derby. An August 2022
Europa League game between Swiss club
BSC Young Boys and
RSC Anderlecht in
Brussels led to violent clashes in a restaurant. Belgian police saw this clash as a possible act of revenge by Anderlecht hooligans in response to violent activity at another Europa League game in Bern, Switzerland. Another major incident occurred in November 2022, when FC Basel supporters clashed with supporters of
FC Luzern in
Lucerne, leading to street battles and clashes with police.
Police response Swiss authorities take preemptive steps to prevent hooliganism both in Switzerland and abroad. Approximately 800 known Swiss hooligans were banned by the Swiss Federal Police from leaving Switzerland to travel to the 2016 European football championship.
Turkey According to the
Turkish Daily News, hooligan groups are well organised, have their own "leaders", and often consist of organised
street fighters. These groups have a "racon" (code of conduct), which states that the intention must be to
injure rather than
kill and that a stab must be made below the waist. Other hooligans have fired firearms into the air to celebrate their team's victory, which has been known to accidentally kill innocent people watching the celebrations on their balconies. Trouble has arisen during matches between Istanbul rivals
Galatasaray and
Fenerbahçe. In 2006, the Turkish Football Federation introduced new measures to combat the threat of hooliganism and have made new regulations that allow the Professional Football Disciplinary Board to fine clubs up to YTL 250,000 for their fans' behavior. Repeat offenders could be fined up to YTL 500,000. Despite reports from the Turkish Football Federation, the Turkish police believe that football hooliganism is not a major threat and is "isolated incidents". Before Galatasaray's
semi-final UEFA Cup match with
Leeds United in 2000, two Leeds fans, Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight, were
stabbed to death in
Istanbul following street fights between Turkish and British hooligans. Galatasaray's players refused to wear black arm bands. The Leeds chairman at the time,
Peter Ridsdale, accused Galatasaray of "showing a lack of respect". He also revealed that his team's players had received death threats before the match. Ali Ümit Demir was arrested and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for the stabbing, but the sentence was reduced to 5 years on the basis of heavy provocation, while five others were given lesser sentences of under four months. However, the Assistant Chief Constable in charge of policing the game believed that the number of arrests was "no worse than a normal high category game". in which a Galatasaray fan, an Arsenal fan and a Dane were said to have been stabbed. Galatasaray later won the match after a penalty shoot-out. On 24 May 2001, 50 people were injured when fighting broke out at a match between French club PSG and Galatasaray at the Parc des Princes stadium.[16][17]PSG were initially given a record $571,000 fine, but it was reduced on appeal to $114,000. Galatasaray was initially fined $114,000 by UEFA, but it too was eventually reduced to $28,500.[18] In May 2001, six PSG fans from the Supporters Club, were arrested and charged with assault, carrying weapons, throwing items on the pitch and racism. The six were alleged to have deliberately entered a part of the Parc des Princes stadium where French fans of Turkish origin were standing, in order to attack them. The six were banned from all football stadiums for the duration of their trial. During the 2003–2004 season, a
Second League Category A, match between
Karşıyaka and
Göztepe on 8 February 2004, involved rival Karşıyaka and Göztepe supporters clashing and the match was subsequently stopped for 33 minutes. This was due to Karşıyaka leading 5–2 after coming back from a 2–0 deficit. After the match, Göztepe fans clashed with the police, seven police officers were wounded and fifteen Göztepe fans were arrested. Bursaspor fans clashed with policemen at a match against Samsunspor match in the
Süper Lig in
Adapazarı at the end of the 2003–04 season. The match was played in Adapazarı due to events at a previous match between Bursaspor and Çaykur Rizespor. Bursaspor were playing to avoid relegation. Bursaspor won 1–0 the but were relegated to
Category A after rivals won. After the match, Bursaspor fans ripped out and threw seats at the
Sakarya Atatürk Stadium They also fought with craftsmen of
Gölcük during their journey to Adapazarı. The Bursaspor-Diyarbakırspor game in March 2010 was suspended in the 17th minute after Diyarbakırspor supporters threw objects on the field. One object struck and knocked down an assistant referee. On 7 May 2011, Bursaspor supporters clashed with the police ahead of the team's match with rival Beşiktaş. 25 police officers and 9 fans were injured in the violence. During the Fenerbahçe-Galatasaray game at the end of 2011–2012 season Fenerbahçe fans clashed with the police, causing $2 million of damage. The 1967
Kayseri Atatürk Stadium disaster was the worst hooliganism event in Turkish history. It resulted in 40 deaths and 600 injuries. The violence started following provocation by the
Kayserispor fans at half-time, after Kayserispor took the lead in the first half. Supporters of the two teams, some of them armed with bats and knives, began to throw rocks at each other, and fans fleeing the violence caused a stampede in front of the stand exits. The events in the stadium were followed by vandalism in
Kayseri and days of riots in
Sivas. On 13 May 2013, a Fenerbahce fan was stabbed to death after the Istanbul derby. The Fenerbahce fan was on his way back home after the match between Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray, when he was attacked by a group of Galatasaray fans at a bus stop, and died in hospital later. In 2015, confectioners
Ülker—previously "one of Turkish football's biggest sponsors"—ceased their support, reportedly due to "low crowds, violence and poor atmosphere at matches". In December 2023 the club president of
MKE Ankaragücü football club was arrested after it appeared he punched the referee, fans also invaded the pitch following a late equaliser by the visiting team. All league football games were suspended in Turkey indefinitely following the assault, which resulted in the referee also being kicked repeatedly whilst on the ground.
United Kingdom There are records of football hooliganism in the UK from the 1880s, and from no later than the 1960s the UK had a worldwide reputation for it – the phenomenon was often dubbed the
English Disease. John Moynihan in
The Soccer Syndrome describes a stroll around an empty
Goodison Park touchline on a summer's day in the 1960s. "Walking behind the infamous goal, where they built a barrier to stop objects crunching into visiting goalkeepers, there was a strange feeling of hostility remaining as if the regulars had never left."
Sectarian violence has long been a regular factor of crowd violence, as well as offensive chanting, at matches in
Scotland between
Celtic and
Rangers. During the 2022 League Cup final at
Hampden Park during the one-minute applause for the recently passed
Hibernian chairman, Rangers fans sang "We are the billy boys". Hooliganism in Scottish football has reduced in intensity since its heights in the 1970s, however, it has seen a slight increase recently, with many teams having a small firm.
Hearts were fined due to their fan's behaviour at Europa Conference matches against Istanbul and RFS. As a result of the
Heysel Stadium disaster at
Brussels,
Belgium, in
1985 between
Juventus and
Liverpool, where rioting Liverpool fans led to the death of 39 Juventus fans, English clubs were banned from all European competitions until 1990, with Liverpool banned for an additional year. Many of the football hooligan gangs in the UK used hooliganism as a cover for acquisitive forms of crime, specifically theft and burglary. In the 1980s and well into the 1990s the UK government led a major crackdown on football-related violence. Birmingham City's multi-racial hooligan element gained the nickname "Zulus" because of the chant the Firm gave during build ups to fights with other firms. As explained in "One Eyed Baz's" Barrington Pattersons biography (), confirming the firm's nickname was not derived from derogatory chanting by other firms. In March 2000, the
Seaburn Casuals (a
Sunderland A.F.C. firm) fought with hooligans from the
Newcastle Gremlins in a pre-arranged clash near the North
Shields Ferry terminal, in what was described as "some of the worst football related fighting ever witnessed in the United Kingdom". The leaders of the Gremlins and Casuals were both jailed for four years for conspiracy, with 28 others jailed for various terms, based on evidence gained after police examined the messages sent by
mobile phone between the gang members on the day. In December 2018, a
Napoli fan who attended a Champions League group stage match between
Liverpool and
Napoli as a gift from his parents, said that he was attacked by a group of seven
Liverpool hooligans who surrounded him upon leaving the stadium. He was said to have been admitted to Royal Liverpool University Hospital with a fractured cheekbone and trauma to one eye. But it was apparently only after flagging down a car that he and a friend managed to get help. The victim was quoted as saying "I thought I was going to die." Some reports have stressed that this was an attack on a lone fan and not a fight between rival groups. On the day of the UEFA Euro 2020 final between England and Italy (which was played in 2021 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic), riots broke out at the entrance to Wembley Stadium, and in both Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square; 86 people were arrested by police. In September 2021,
Leicester City played
Napoli at home in a
UEFA Europa League group stage match. Supporters of both clubs clashed, which resulted in a street fight around a mile away from the stadium, and disorder at the end of the match. In September 2022, approximately 100 German hooligans in masks armed with machetes and knuckle dusters stormed a pub near Wembley Stadium before an England v Germany
UEFA Nations League match.
Ukraine Football
hooliganism in
Ukraine started in the 1980s. The first big fight (more than 800 people) involving football hooligans occurred in September 1987 between
Dynamo Kyiv and
Spartak Moscow fans in the center of
Kyiv. The 1990s passed in relative silence, as there were no big fights between hooligans. On 5 September 1998 an important game between
Ukraine and
Russia's national football teams was played. Ukrainian hooligans began to unite in "national crews" to resist Russian fans. However, the mass union did not take place due to police intervention and were mainly composed of Ukrainian fans from
Kyiv and
Dnipropetrovsk. In March 2001, several crews united and attacked 80
Belarusian fans after match between
Ukraine and
Belarus national football teams. At that exact time hooligans and ultras were separated, due to changes of views on supporting movement. On 15 April 2002 about 50 right-wing Dynamo fans attacked the
Jewish quarter in
Kyiv, targeting local businesses, the synagogue, and Jewish worshipers. Since 2005 clashes between hooligans have occurred mostly outside the city because of a greater police presence. During
Euro 2012 several leaders of football hooligans came under government pressure. During the
Revolution of Dignity the unification of all fans was announced and a ban was imposed on any provocation, such as burning attributes, fighting, or offensive songs. During the
war in eastern Ukraine many hooligans and ultras went to the defense of the state. Parts of the
Azov Brigade were formed from a
FC Metalist Kharkiv hooligan group named "Sect 82". Ukraine's volunteer group,
Kraken Regiment filled its ranks with "gym rats", bouncers and "ultras" and would show their love for Kharkiv's Metalist team as they had helped take back villages in the north of Kharkiv. BBC would report that
Right Sector's organization in
Kyiv would have its backbone made up of Russian-speaking, Ukrainian football fans sharing nationalist views. Ukrainian hooligans have also been involved in incidents with foreign clubs. After the match between
FC Dnipro and
Saint Etienne in
Kyiv several French fans were hospitalized after stabbings. On 20 August 2015 there was a big fight in
Hydropark between hooligans from
Legia Warsaw and from
Dynamo and
Zorya hooligans. The biggest clash since unification occurred in Kyiv, 6 December 2016 between
Dynamo and
Beşiktaş hooligans. A few days before Kyiv about 7,000 fans arrived from
Istanbul. Two days before the match, different parts of Ukrainian capital witnessed the outbreak of numerous conflicts on the streets. Typically the biggest confrontations involving Ukrainian hooligans occur in domestic competitions. The most famous confrontations are the
Klasychne derby,
South derby and South-West derby between
FC Karpaty Lviv and
Shakhtar Donetsk, as well as local derbys such as the
Donetsk derby and the
Kyiv derby. ==North America==