The game between Famalicão and Sporting, which should have taken place at 6pm this Saturday, was canceled and there is still no new date for it. In a statement, Liga Portugal states that the postponement took place by “agreement between the clubs, for a date yet to be defined, after receiving information from the person responsible for the police force present at the Famalicão Municipal Stadium that there were no security conditions”.
The organization adds that the game will not take place this Sunday either. As far as FC Porto-Rio Ave is concerned, it started at the scheduled time, 8:30 pm, but with fewer players than is usual at Dragão.
According to the League statement“all security conditions for the match were guaranteed by the authorities” in the game preparation meeting, and “the information that the agents assigned to FC Famalicão-Sporting CP had, as a form of protest , alleged medical leave so as not to be present at the location” was provided “shortly in time for the meeting”.
The Sporting delegation has now continued its journey directly to Lisbon, while the players from the Minho team went to train on the pitch.
Next to the stadium, clashes took place between Famalicão and Sporting fans. According to the news in the edition online from the newspaper And she was, there is at least one seriously injured person resulting from these clashes in a cafe near the venue, who will be the Minho club’s fan liaison officer, and who has already been taken by ambulance to the hospital. O Record adds that six minor injuries resulted from these clashes.
Regarding these confrontations, the League says that it “repudiates” the incidents that occurred while FC Famalicão and Sporting CP fans waited for the doors to be opened to access the interior of the venue, an entry that was “delayed due to the fact that agents assigned to police of the game did not appear at the stadium”.
“The Portugal League and the Clubs, which annually spend millions of euros to ensure security in professional competitions, do not allow football to be, due to its enormous visibility, instrumentalized to resolve issues with which it has no relation” , reads the second statement.
It is also said that the lack of police presence puts the “safety of fans who intend to attend the games” at risk. “Liga Portugal demands that the Government, in particular the Minister of Internal Administration, initiate an investigation process as a matter of urgency, in order to determine responsibility for what happened, in defense of fans and families, and informs that it will also demand, in appropriate instances, be compensated for damages caused by irresponsible actions to which it is completely unrelated”.
The game between “Minhotos” and “Leões” had initially been postponed from 6pm to 7pm due to “policing difficulties” related to protests by security forces.
PSP talks about “high number of medical leaves”
Regarding this Saturday’s events, the PSP said, in a statement, that it had planned and prepared the “adequate and necessary police force to ensure the normal course of the event” but, before the start of the game, an “unusual number of police officers reported that if they were sick, reporting sick leave”.
This security force also states that, even activating police resources from other police units — “those resources that also came to report situations of indisposition, with travel to hospital units” — and even from the GNR, it was not possible to ensure that the game would take place. .
“As there were some incidents of public order near the Municipal Stadium of Famalicão, even though it was possible to reinforce its surroundings, the PSP, in coordination with the organizer and promoter of the event, decided that the necessary conditions for the event were not met. realization of the game”, reads the PSP note.