Two Football Fans Died In Massive Panic Before Gulf Cup Final

Two Iraqi football fans died while scores of them were severely injured on January 19 (Thursday), during a stampede outside Basra Stadium, hours before the Gulf Cup final, between Iraq and Oman.

Notably, war-torn Iraq, faced a long ban from hosting international football matches, was counting heavily on smooth conduct of the Golf Club to clean its image but ended up apologising for organisational lapses.

Despite the massive chaos, the match proceedings went on as per the schedule which Iraq won eventually. Thousands of football fans, reportedly without tickets, had gathered outside the 65,000-seat

As pre reports, an AFP photographer claimed that turnstiles were still closed when the crash occurred. Sirens blared as ambulances arrived to ferry the injured to hospital. Pictures floating around on social media showed a sea of people outside the stadium.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani immediately arrived in Basra Province and held a meeting with the provincial governor and other senior officials to supervise the preparations for the final match of the 25^th Arabian Gulf Cup.