Last week, a Greek supporter was fatally stabbed during a clash with Croatian supporters prior to the first leg of the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round match between AEK Athens and Dinamo Zagreb. During a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin called for the “eradication of the cancer of hooliganism.”
“The issue of violence and hooliganism is not just Greek, it is European,” he stated, as reported by RMC Sport. “I call on everyone at the European level to eradicate this cancer,” he added. “We will do everything in our power to ensure that such a tragedy does not happen again,” assured the UEFA President.
“The culprits will be identified and punished for this murder,” supported the Greek Prime Minister, who also called for a “European mechanism to confront violence in stadiums and to effectively punish it to be established.”
Michalis Katsouris, a devoted 29-year-old fan of AEK Athens, tragically lost his life due to bleeding resulting from a knife attack on his arm. This tragic incident occurred on August 8th during violent clashes between ultras groups from the Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb and those of AEK, near the stadium of the Greek team located in Nea Filadelfia, a suburb of Athens. Greek authorities charged and placed in provisional detention 105 individuals accused of participating in the incidents.
