A friendly between Belgium and Italy is to be halted in the 39th minute as the names of the 39 victims of the Heysel Stadium disaster are read out one by one on Friday.
Belgium, currently No. 1 in the FIFA rankings, host four-time FIFA World Cup champions Italy at the King Beaudoin Stadium in Brussels.
It is to count as preparation for next summer’s European Championships, but the match is also an occasion for both sides to commemorate one of soccer’s worst stadium disasters in the year of its 30th anniversary.
Photo: AP
On May 29, 1985, 39 fans — mostly Italian — died during the European Cup final between Juventus and Liverpool after running battles between groups of supporters caused panic and led to fans being crushed against a collapsing wall.
Juventus won the match 1-0 thanks to a penalty scored by Michel Platini, but the Turin club’s victory has long been overshadowed by the controversy of players celebrating in the middle of the pitch only hours after the tragedy.
Liverpool’s supporters were apportioned much of the blame, although police chiefs and local authorities were also found guilty following an inquiry after the disaster, which also led to a five-year ban for English clubs in European competition.
Juventus last season were at the forefront of commemorations for victims of the disaster, days prior to facing Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League final in Berlin. Fans unfurled banners at Juventus Stadium emblazoned with the number 39, with several other banners calling for supporters to never forget the victims.
This week, a number of initiatives are to be held.
Upon their arrival on Thursday, the Italy squad, Italian Football Federation president Carlo Tavecchio, representatives from Juventus and members of an association representing families of the victims are to leave bouquets of flowers at the “Z” section of the stadium, which played host to the drama.
While there, Italy are to “retire” the No. 39 shirt — meaning the No. 39 can no longer be chosen by any player in the national team.
On the day of the match itself, the commemorations are to continue before and also during the game. A first message is to be read by stadium announcers prior to kickoff, and the game is to then be halted in the 39th minute as players from both teams meet to pay homage as the names of the 39 victims are read out one by one.
Italy are in rebuilding mode following their second successive first-round exit from the FIFA World Cup at last summer’s showpiece in Brazil while under the helm of Cesare Prandelli.
Current coach Antonio Conte, who played for Juventus from 1991 to 2004 and went on to lead the Bianconeri to three successive league titles from 2012 to 2014, steered Italy to the Euro 2016 finals with two games to spare.
Italy are to play a second friendly when they host Romania in Bologna on Tuesday.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later