Global Courant
FIFA announced this Wednesday, June 14, the start of a diagnosis on the security conditions in the stadiums of El Salvador, with the intention of avoiding incidents such as the stampede that left nine dead in a soccer match on May 20.
“The proposal that we are making is to carry out an analysis of the security situation (in the stadiums) of the country,” said the head of FIFA Security, Serge Dumortier, at a press conference.
Dumortier along with other members of a FIFA and Concacaf committee met with leaders of a Standardization Committee of the Salvadoran Football Federation (Fesfut).
The arrival of the representatives of FIFA and Concacaf occurs after nine people died on May 20 from the stampede that occurred at the Cuscatlán stadium in San Salvador, during a quarterfinal game of the local tournament between the Alianza and FAS clubs.
Five people who have been in prison since May 25 were arrested for this incident. Among them is the president of the Alianza club, Pedro Hernández, as well as two other directors of the same team and two managers of the Cuscatlán stadium, where the tragedy occurred.
On June 2, at the end of a hearing, a court ordered the release of the five detainees, according to defense lawyers, after they reached a “conciliation” agreement with the families of the victims.
Also read: VIDEO | Stampede at the Cuscatlán stadium leaves several dead in a match between Alianza FC and the FAS in El Salvador
However, the Attorney General’s Office announced that same day that it will appeal the ruling of the court that ordered the release and that therefore “those responsible will continue to be detained.” To date, the Prosecutor’s Office has not indicated when it will present the appeal.
Dumortier explained that the “analysis” of security will be carried out “at two levels”, the first will be about the security conditions that the country’s stadiums have.
The second level of the evaluation has to do with “how security is handled during a football match,” said FIFA’s head of Security.
Dumortier did not specify how long it will take to carry out this analysis, which will be the basis for “making recommendations” that improve security for fans in stadiums, he said.
Jair Bertoni, director of FIFA Member Associations of the Americas, added that both that federation and Concacaf will make “experts” available to El Salvador to evaluate the security conditions in soccer venues in the country.
“We are working so that this incident (what happened on May 20) is never repeated,” Bertoni said.
