Fans trampled in Nigeria v North Korea stadium stampede‎

A stampede by thousands of fans cast a shadow over the official start of the World Cup in South Africa yesterday as police lost control of the crowd at an international friendly match.

One police officer suffered critical injuries and another minor wounds while at least 14 supporters were taken to hospital after being crushed during a game between North Korea and Nigeria.

The chaotic scenes occurred just 24 hours before England’s opening friendly game at their training ground in Rustenburg this afternoon.


Women and children were pulled from beneath a pile of crushed fans amid claims that police officers were overwhelmed by the number of supports and were unable to control the crowd.

What had started as a day of celebration as Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, handed the World Cup trophy to Jacob Zuma, the South African president, ended with renewed concerns about the ability of Africa’s first host country to police the competition.

Fifa, football’s world governing body, was quick to make clear that it was not involved in the organisation of the unofficial warm-up game.

Executives heard a full report from South African police within hours of the incident and gave a reassurance that it would not happen at any of the official World Cup matches.

However, Fifa will find it hard to wash its hands of the responsibility for assuring suitable policing is in place for the main matches.

A spokesman said: “Fifa and the organising committee would like to reiterate that this friendly match has no relation whatsoever with the operational organisation of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, for which we remain fully confident.”

Trouble started when thousands of ticketless fans joined queues outside the Makhulong stadium in the township of Tembisa on the outskirts of Johannesburg. The stadium, which is the official training ground for the North Korea team, has a capacity of 15,000 but only 8,000 free tickets were distributed to fans.

Shortly after the 4pm kick-off thousands of Nigerian fans and local supporters were still waiting outside the stadium, many of them without tickets, or carrying crude photocopies.

According to witnesses, those at the front of the queue were crushed against a set of double gates in the corner of the ground by the main strand.

Police appeared to open the gate, causing a stampede in which one officer was severely injured. As the crowd surged forward some fans were tripped and trampled by those behind. The gates were then closed, causing another crush. The police’s actions were reminiscent of events at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough Stadium in 1989 which led to the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans.

Tiisetso Teffo, 17, said: “The Nigerian fans had been drinking, they were aggressive. The police just opened the gates, they stood by letting anyone in. They were not checking tickets.”

Tiisetso, a Manchester United fan like many of the township’s impoverished residents, said the police seemed unable to cope with the crowd.

“Then they closed the gates and everyone was crushed again,” he said.

Japhta Mombelo, who was also caught up in the crush, said: “The crowd just overpowered me and I fell down and people just fell over me.”

Princess Mbali, who was wearing a green South African shirt, said: “When we were coming in they were just stepping on us. I thought I was dying.”

Around £3 million was spent upgrading the Makhutong Stadium as a training venue for the World Cup. The Nigerian and North Korean teams were lining up for the national anthems when the second surge happened. They had no idea what was going on until the end of the game.

Many of the injured fans were taken to the nearby Tembisa Hospital were doctors and nurses struggled to cope with an influx of patients with crush wounds, cuts and severe bruising.

Lieutenant Colonel Eugene Opperman, of the South African police, said there would be a full investigation. “This was a clearly a challenge for everybody,” he said. “It was unfortunate that people had been drinking liquor and that inflamed things.”

Asked about England’s game today against local side Platinum Stars, he said: “The police will do their best.”