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Thousands of enthusiasts flooded a stadium in the southern city of Basra for an attack involving the national team. Many realized they had been sold counterfeit tickets, one witness said.
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By Jane Arraf
A stampede outside a soccer stadium in the southern Iraqi city of Basra killed at least one user on Thursday after enthusiasts who had been sold fake tickets to a prestigious regional tournament flooded ticket collection counters with fake prices. officials and witnesses said.
Thousands of enthusiasts had queued for hours in the morning outside the closed gates of Basra’s International Stadium to watch the final match of the tournament, the Arabian Gulf Cup, between Iraq and Oman.
Some had price price tickets that turned out to be fake and others were hoping to get price-price tickets on the site, according to a witness, Mohammed, who asked to be known on his first call just to talk about price ticket fraud. price ticket collectors opened the doors, “lost and the stampede started,” Mohammed said.
Basra governorate media director Safaa al-Firajii said one man was killed in the stampede and at least 60 others were wounded. Iraq’s state news firm showed the initial death toll.
Several hours after the lightning strike, the stadium reopened and was ready for the adjustment to go ahead as planned. Twitter posts from an online Iraqi soccer page showed the 65,000-seat stadium was packed five hours before 7 p. m. start. time.
Some enthusiasts entered without valid tickets, witnesses said, leaving less room for Omanis who had reserved seats and traveled to Iraq for the match. Taken. He told enthusiasts who were already in town and headed to the stadium to watch the game on screens elsewhere.
An Oman Sports TV commentator told the audience that only a small fraction of Omanis who had seats could place a seat inside.
This year was the first time since 1979 that foreign soccer officials deemed Iraq or solid enough to host the Gulf Cup, something that has been a dream for Iraqis across the soccer-crazy country. Local officials set up giant screens in cities across the country to broadcast the matches and tens of thousands of people bought tickets and traveled to Basra to watch the matches live.
Iraq won the game 3-2 in overtime, sparking a wave of celebrations across the country. In Baghdad and cities, fireworks and classic celebratory gunfire filled the air as enthusiasts piled into public squares and drove cars waving the Iraqi flag.
While deaths at soccer matches remain rare, crowds in Iraq have followed several incidents over the past year. In most cases, adding a stampede in Indonesia last year that left at least 125 other people dead, the incidents turned out to be the result of police. , security failures and crowd control, no fanatical violence.
During last season’s Champions League final in Paris, the culmination of the European season, thousands of enthusiasts were trapped in a packed crowd outside the stadium gates and then gassed by police. An investigation through the French Senate later revealed that poor coordination, making plans and mistakes through the government were to blame for the chaos.
The Basra tournament is not only a major sporting event, but also a source of pride for Iraq’s embattled new government, which is facing daunting corruption scandals and economic and security woes.
This year’s Arabian Gulf Cup biennial has been plagued by fake ticket sales from the start. Saud Khaldoun, an instructor from the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, said he and his sons traveled more than 800 kilometers to Basra for the opening match two weeks ago. after buying 3-price tickets at a Kirkuk tourism agency.
“When I got to the door, I was told the tickets were fake,” he said. The circle of relatives returned to Kirkuk the same day.
Iraq, once a soccer powerhouse in the Gulf, has struggled through more than two decades of fighting and wars. But the Iraqi and Omani teams went undefeated in this year’s tournament, with Iraq claiming a primary victory over a much better-funded Qatar and Oman beating Bahrain to triumph in the final.
The Gulf Cup has also been plagued by regional conflicts in recent years. In 2017, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates did not participate in the draw organized through Qatar, which was then blocked by its neighbors.
In 2017, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates did not participate in the draw for the event as part of a dispute with Qatar, then amid a blockade by their neighbors.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani described this year’s tournament as a way to strengthen ties between Iraq and other Gulf countries.
Relations between Shiite-dominated Iraq and Sunni leaders in other Gulf countries necessarily froze for about a decade after the U. S. invasion toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Andrew Das contributed reporting from London, and Nermeen Al Mufti and Jaafar al-Waely from Baghdad.
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