Tirana (dpa) – On the night before the final of the Conference League in Tirana, there were riots between the police and the fan groups of AS Roma and Feyenoord Rotterdam.
As the AP news agency reported, 19 police officers and five other people were injured. A police officer was reportedly injured with a knife.
The riots came about because the followers each tried to storm into the area of the other group. 48 Italian and 12 Dutch football fans were taken into custody. Deputy Police Chief Albert Dervishi called on fans to “behave like European citizens and respect the laws of the country”. 80 followers were sent back to Italy.
Ceferin sees success in Conference League
The capital of Albania expected 100,000 fans from both countries for the game in the evening – but both clubs are only entitled to 4,000 tickets each, the National Arena holds 20,000 people.
Despite what happened, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin has described the Conference League as a great success. “The inaugural season went beyond expectations,” the Slovenian told the AP news agency. You have two teams in the final that could easily play in the Champions League.
The idea behind the newly created competition was to have more games for more clubs so that more associations could present themselves. “This formula has proven successful,” Ceferin said. Clubs from twelve nations were in the round of 16.
At the same time he defended the choice of Tirana with the small stadium. We didn’t expect a lot of interest when the competition was introduced. “It was a new competition, so it was necessary to start with a smaller-capacity stadium,” said the head of the association, but also announced changes: “If the trend continues, we will have to think about larger stadiums for the future.”