Copa America final: Fans without tickets storm the gates, causing chaos
USA TODAY Sports’ Safid Dean reports that a fan was arrested after jumping over a fence while trying to sneak into the Copa America final between Argentina and Colombia.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Copa America 2024 final was supposed to be a soccer celebration, a catalyst for Americans to become soccer fans and an appetizer for the 2026 World Cup.
Instead, harrowing images of women and children struggling to breathe due to the surging crowds and needing medical attention for heatstroke presented a disheartening, if not terrifying, impression. Desperate fans without tickets jumped fences, slipped past security guards and even clambered into the stadium through a small hole near the ventilation system.
“It was inhumane,” Silvina Riera, the mother of Argentina star player Alexis Mac Allister, told Argentine news outlet TYC Sports.
The ugly incident has put enormous pressure on FIFA, World Cup organizers and the hosts in the United States, Canada and Mexico to learn and prepare for the next major soccer tournament in two years’ time.
Thankfully, no one was killed, but who is to blame for this Copa America disaster?
Let’s start with the perpetrator who, smitten by South Florida’s relentless heat and humidity and surrounded by crowds of restless fans huddled together, took matters into his own hands, leading to 27 arrests and 55 ejections by the Miami-Dade Police Department.
more: Miami mayor outraged by Copa America disaster at Hard Rock Stadium, joins calls for reform
Let’s not forget the importance of this event. This Copa America final between Colombia and Argentina was a once in a lifetime soccer match and experience for arguably the greatest soccer player of all time, Lionel Messi, as it was likely his final major international match.
Continuing with the issue of responsible organizations, this was a major blunder by the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) and the organizers of the Copa America tournament. It was also a major oversight by the North American organization that holds the same position, CONCACAF, who could have done more to support CONMEBOL and the stadium officials during the final.
CONMEBOL’s lack of coordination left Hard Rock Stadium officials, local police and emergency personnel outnumbered by more than 70,000 fans and at a disadvantage, failing to foresee past instances where rowdy fans have caused tragic and even deadly situations at other soccer matches around the world.
Organizations have failed to plan or learn lessons, such as the February 2015 fan stampede in Cairo that left 22 people dead, the July 2017 attack in South Africa that left two dead, the October 2022 attack in Indonesia that left 125 people dead, and the attack in El Salvador earlier this year that left 12 people dead and over 100 injured. And these are just a few of the recent tragedies, not to mention the 1989 Hillsborough disaster and the Euro 2020 final documented in Netflix’s The Final: Attack on Wembley.
“It was scary,” said Maria Morales, a Colombia fan who watched Sunday’s game with three friends after waiting at least two hours to get into the stadium. “We came up against the wall, we were pushed in, we had no way out, so it was hard to breathe. And it’s so hot right now.”
“The players were waiting for their families to enter the stadium,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said after the match. “We had to start the game without knowing where our families were. We were watching the video. … It was very strange.”
CONMEBOL waited nearly 24 hours to release a statement about the fiasco, which caused the Copa America final to be delayed by at least an hour and 20 minutes from its original 8pm ET start as stadium officials and local police left to clean up the pre-match mess, without admitting any responsibility and instead blaming the Hard Rock Stadium.
“In this situation, CONMEBOL has deferred to the decision of the Hard Rock Stadium authorities, in accordance with its contractual responsibilities regarding security activities,” the statement read. “In addition to the preparations set out in this contract, CONMEBOL recommended to these authorities procedures proven in events of this magnitude, which were not taken into account. We regret that what should have been a great sporting spectacle, the final, has been tainted by violent acts committed by malicious individuals.”
Hard Rock Stadium will host seven 2026 World Cup games and is also home to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, the annual Formula One Miami race and other major events that sell out fans. Two days before the final, CONMEBOL reposted a social media post trying to discourage fans without tickets to the match from visiting the campus. Still, fans without tickets showed up to the stadium.
There was no screening process within the stadium radius to keep fans out of the venue, such as a series of checkpoints to ensure only fans who had paid for tickets could get in. There were also no proper barriers outside the stadium gates to filter and organise people.
Stadium officials, working with CONMEBOL, CONCACAF and local police, initially closed the fans’ entrance before deciding the best course of action was to let everyone in to avoid further violence, but the results were disappointing: after the mass entry, the gates remained closed until the end of the match, meaning ticketed fans missed out on the Copa America final.
“We understand that some ticket holders will be disappointed that they will not be able to enter the stadium once the borders are closed, and we will be working with CONMEBOL to address those individual concerns,” a Hard Rock Stadium spokesperson said in a statement. “At the end of the day, nothing is more important than the health and safety of all our guests and staff, which will always remain our top priority.”
“It is unfortunate that our evening of celebration was affected by illegal and dangerous activity. We will fully review the processes and procedures in place tonight and work with law enforcement to ensure this type of incident does not happen again.”
But ultimately, the onus is on FIFA to ensure appropriate, proactive measures are taken through thorough communication with stadium officials and local police, and to implement reforms to deal with violent fans before the next World Cup turns into another football tragedy.