Emotions heated up in the middle of the sub-league match. Two players were convicted of assaults.
The violent situations happened in the very last minutes of the match. Illustration image. PDO
Two players from Tampere’s minor league team abused two of their opponents in the men’s Vitone football match in Pirkanmaa in June 2023.
The violent situations happened in the very last minutes of the match.
At the time of the events, a 30-year-old man kicked an opponent who had fallen to the ground in the back of the head in the middle of the game. Almost immediately, the 31-year-old teammate deliberately stepped on the ankle of the player who was still lying on the ground.
The younger of the men was sent off the field with a red card. An ambulance was called for the injured player.
The 30-year-old, who was ordered to the bench, did not calm down, but continued the violence. He kicked an opponent standing on the side of the field in the lower end. The referee described the player as having used “unreasonable force and brutality” in the kick.
The referee who witnessed the kick immediately ran to the bench. He recorded in his report later that the kicking player was “in full swing” and raging aggressively.
The violent men’s team lost the match 2–3.
Conditional for another
The accusations of player abuse were dealt with in the Pirkanmaa district court in November 2025.
The younger of the men, now 32 years old, denied the charges, claiming that it was about game situations. The older, now 34-year-old player, on the other hand, claimed that he had not physically harmed the opponent in any way.
However, there were eyewitnesses to the acts of violence. They said that it wasn’t about game situations, but about intentional kicks and kicks.
The district court of Pirkanmaa therefore considered the charges proven true.
The court sentenced a 34-year-old man to a fine for assault. 40 daily fines make a man’s income 240 euros. He has to pay 500 euros in damages to his poor man.
The 32-year-old player was sentenced to a 60-day suspended prison sentence for two counts of assault. He must pay 700 euros in damages to the first victim, 500 euros to the second victim.
The men must jointly and severally compensate the court costs of the man who was assaulted on the field, as well as other related costs.
The verdict of November 12 is final.