All Italian soccer matches were suspended on Friday after a 38-year-old policeman was killed when violence flared during and after the Serie A match between bitter Sicilian rivals Catania and Palermo.
The policeman was named as Filippo Raciti, and another officer was believed to be seriously injured.
Hundreds of people were hurt as fighting continued after the game.
As a result of the tragedy, the Italian soccer federation announced that all matches, professional and amateur, scheduled for this weekend would be canceled and that the suspension was likely to be indefinite.
Next week's friendly international between Italy, the World Cup winners, and Romania in Siena was also called off.
The federation's chief Luca Pancalli said that the suspension of the matches could last longer and the matter will be discussed next week.
"One day is not sufficient," said Pancalli. "Without drastic measures, we can't play again."
"We will immediately set up a commission to discuss the situation between sport and politics. It's not possible to carry on like this. If this is football, then I'm stopping everything," he said.
He said that he would meet with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi tomorrow.
"Football in Italy must stop and take stock. Enough is enough," said Pancalli.
"I cannot find the words to describe a 38-year-old man who lost his life in such a way. All the football authorities I spoke to agreed that we had to stop everything. This is completely unacceptable," he said.
Sergio Campana, the head of the players association in Italy, demanded a longer suspension.
"I think that faced with these events, football should stop for a year and see if we can change our whole approach to sport," he said.
Raciti was hit in the face by a homemade bomb thrown from the crowd.
He died at the Garibaldi Hospital in Catania.
Palermo won the game 2-1 but the highly-charged Sicilian derby was overshadowed by the violence.
Later Friday, nine Catania fans including four minors, were arrested, reported the ANSA news agency.
However, none were believed to be in connection with the death of Raciti.
Friday's game had already been brought forward because of fears over public safety. But even an early kick-off did nothing to quell the unrest.
The game was suspended after an hour when tear gas, used by police to halt the trouble, drifted onto the field.
Adding to the problems was the fact that Palermo supporters were unable to get into the Stadio Massimino until the second half.
Palermo took the lead after 55 minutes when Andrea Caracciolo scored from a pass from Mark Bresciano.
The goal coincided with the arrival of the Palermo fans. It was also the cue for the trouble to start.
Reports claimed that fireworks were lobbed into the area where the Palermo supporters were sitting. They fought back and tear gas made it impossible for play to continue.
The two teams fled the pitch for the dressing room with the game suspended for 30 minutes.
Within 60 seconds of the restart, Catania equalized through Fabio Caserta.
Palermo's winning goal in the 83rd minute was controversial with David di Michele finding the back of the net although Catania claimed the ball came off the striker's arm.
Catania president Antonio Pulvirenti blamed Palermo fans for the violence.
"Clearly the incidents were provoked by the Palermo fans when they entered the stadium," he said.
"Before then, nothing had happened, but they started causing trouble and, as the images show, threw tear gas on to the pitch," he added.
Ironically, Friday's match was preceded by a minute's silence in memory of the director of an amateur team who died the previous Saturday following crowd trouble at the end of a match against their local rivals.
Prodi warned that football in the country needed radical surgery if it was to stop the violence.
"My first thoughts are for the people affected by the violence and their families," said Prodi, who backed the decision by the Italian football authorities to call off matches.
"It is the right signal and is necessary to avoid the degeneration of the sport," he said.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite