Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to try to prevent fans attending the duel between the smarter teams Boca Juniors and Gimnasia y Esgrima from entering the already packed venue.
Riots outside the Carmelo Zerillo stadium in La Plata, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of the Argentine capital, continued inside, where spectators were caught sneaking through fences to escape violence and enter the field.
“There were about 10,000 people around the stadium who wanted to enter, some with tickets, some without. Everyone can see that the stadium is very full,” said Eduardo Aparicio, director of a government firm tasked with preventing violence in sports.
“This is all investigation,” adding “police actions,” he added.
Authorities at the San Martin de La Plata Hospital announced the death of César Regueiro, 57, from cardiac arrest while being transferred from the stadium to the hospital.
A cameraman for the sports channel TyC wounded by rubber bullets while dozens of spectators suffered the effects of tear gas and were taken to hospitals, according to local media.
Game suspended after nine minutes due to lack of security, referee Hernan Mastrangelo said.
“It touched all of us on the ground,” he added. The air has become unbreathable. The stage was out of place and there were no guarantees of safety. “
Explosions were heard in the stadium and smoke from the fumes temporarily reached the pitch.
The players, referee and coach were forced to evacuate the pitch.
At the same time, fans, including children driven or carried by adults, ran out of the stands and entered the field, where other people were seen sitting or lying, recovering from exposure to tear gas.
“The first thing I saw was that other people had started to run away from the pits and I started to feel the effects of the gas. I noticed my circle of family and started to worry,” Gymnastics player Nicolas Contin said from the locker room. where he had taken his young son.
“I’m on everything that happened. “
The adjustment came at a critical time in Argentina’s Primera División, with Gimnasia looking to stay in the naming race and Boca to take the top spot.
“What was intended to be a party ends like this. It hurts all of us what happened, it’s massive and we regret it,” Boca Juniors coach Hugo Ibarra told reporters.
Clashes inside and outside Argentine stadiums have killed more than 300 people since soccer turned professional in the 1930s, with two-thirds of the deaths occurring after the 1990s, according to a local NGO.
The violence in La Plata comes just five days after one of the deadliest blunders in football history in which another 131 people were killed at a stadium in Indonesia.
The incident in the city of Malang also turned into a tragedy after police fired tear gas at crowded stalls.