You are here: HomeSportsSoccer2001 05 10Article 15157

Soccer News of Thursday, 10 May 2001

Source: .

National Football League Suspended.

Ghana's national premier league has been suspended indefinitely after the stadium stampede in Accra in wich at least 126 fans died.

The decision to put the competition on hold was taken late on Thursday after a meeting between the country's soccer chiefs to review Africa's worst football disaster.

"This is a tragedy of unbelievable, unimaginable magnitude and we all need some time to come to terms with it and put in place more effective measures to avoid a repetition," acting Ghana Football Association (GFA) chairman Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah told reporters.

The fans died in a stampede at the national stadium in Accra at the end of a match between top Ghanaian clubs Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko on Wednesday.

The stampede began after police fired teargas into sections of the stands to disperse rioting Kotoko fans who had ripped up plastic seats and hurled them onto the pitch in protest against refereeing decisions.

Soccer's world governing body FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) have sent messages of condolence to the Ghanaian federation and bereaved families.

However, CAF also reprimanded the GFA for its failure to curb violence at the Accra stadium, where uncontrolled use of teargas resulted in pandemonium during Ghana's African Nations Cup qualifier against Zimbabwe and the African Champions League final between Hearts and Esperance of Tunisia last year.