Citing safety concerns, football officials in El Salvador announced Wednesday that they are canceling the country’s Clausura national tournament after a stampede at a game over the weekend left 12 people dead.
“This measure is taken in response to the seriousness of the incidents and the need to guarantee the safety conditions of sports venues,” the national football federation and Liga Mayor Clubs said in a statement.
“We have decided to end the 2022-2023 national championship of El Salvador,” the parties said, with the football federation adding that “there will be no champion.”
The tournament covered only the first leg of the quarterfinals.
Twelve people were killed and hundreds injured in Saturday’s stampede at first division Alianza’s stadium, believed to have been triggered by the collapse of a stadium gate in the then-capital city of San Salvador.
Apart from the 12 people who died, around 500 people were treated for various injuries at the scene, while 88 were hospitalized. Most have since been discharged.
To determine the three clubs that will represent El Salvador in the CONCACAF international tournament, the Football Federation and Liga Mayor are proposing that the champions and runners-up of last year’s Apertura 2022 tournament, which are FAS and Jocoro, participate. are clubs, respectively
Aguila will be the third participating club to be the “team with the most points” in the regular season of the 2022-2023 Apertura and Clausura tournaments.
CONCACAF must approve the decision.
El Salvador’s football federation on Tuesday ordered Alianza to play its home matches behind closed doors for a year, blaming the club for the incident at its Cuscatlan stadium.
Alianza must play “without local spectators for a period of one year” and pay a $30,000 fine before July 21.
