The Swedish players did not know about the murder of their supporters before the start of the match against Belgium.
Swedish fans stayed at the King Baudouin Stadium after the match. PDO
According to the schedule, Sweden and Belgium started their unimportant EC qualifying match for both on Monday evening.
Belgium has already secured its own European Championship pass, and Blågult will follow the final tournament just as surely via television.
However, the King Baudouin stadium had an eerie atmosphere. It was due to the fact that right before the kick-off, the news came that just a couple of kilometers away in the center of Brussels, two Swedish supporters had just been shot.
At least one of them was wearing a Sweden jersey.
The players were unaware of the incident in the opening period.
– The situation right now is that we don’t know if this match will be played to the end. We are now safe here inside the stadium. And that’s why we play, the security manager of the Swedish Football Association Martin Fredman said for Aftonbladet still during the opening period.
During the break, it was announced that the match would not be played to the end. The match was tied at 1-1 when it was suspended.
According to newspaper reports, it was the Swedish players who decided not to continue the match. Futisliitto’s management held a crisis meeting in the corridors of the stadium.
– We cannot play football in such conditions. Both we and the Belgian team agreed on that, head coach Jan Andersson said Fotbollskanalen.
– What kind of world do we live in?
Andersson also confirmed that the team didn’t really know about the shooting when the match started.
– I was only told during the break.
It is known that the Belgian police have not caught the shooter.
Aftonbladet also got a 53-year-old on the phone Pernilla Califfinwhich is still inside the stadium.
– We have not received any official information about the events. Now here it feels like panic is spreading, Califf said.
– I am completely shocked. We don’t understand anything. Everyone takes off their Swedish shirts and changes into neutral clothes. This is really scary.
Sweden’s reputation has taken a hard hit recently, as the country has repeatedly seen protests in which Korans have been burned.
Fredman didn’t want to draw parallels between that and Monday’s shooting.
– Of course we can’t rule it out, he said.
– We know that there is a threat to Swedes on every side of the globe. It’s not new. We follow the instructions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs whenever we travel somewhere.