This is how things escalated around AZ-Legia Warsaw: the facts at a glance

Before the match

Before the start of the match, a number of measures had already been taken to prevent chaos. “Due to the festivities in the Alkmaar city center around 450 years of the Relief of Alkmaar, it was not possible to receive visiting football supporters in the city,” the municipality said.

For this reason, according to the municipality, it was agreed in advance that visitors from Warsaw would receive a voucher, which they could exchange for a ticket to the match in the Netherlands at the ADO Den Haag stadium.

Wednesday – safety meeting with UEFA

During the safety meeting on the eve of the match – Wednesday evening – it turned out that Legia Warsaw had not adhered to these agreements. Supporters would have simply received their ticket anyway. As a result, a small number of Poles had to pick up their tickets in The Hague, but the vast majority were able to come to Alkmaar on their own.

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Shortly before the match

It had been restless at the stadium for a while before the match. Legia supporters felt that the wait would be too long and, according to the municipality of Alkmaar, stormed the entrance gates of the stadium. The riot police were called to prevent this, but they were unable to intervene in time due to the ‘heavy violence’ used by the supporters. It soon became clear that this was one ME man has become unconscious. Two others were slightly injured.

During that storm, Legia supporters managed to take batons and pepper spray from the police and the Mobile Unit. The municipality indicates that they would have preferred to clear the visitors’ section of the stadium, but that this was not possible due to limitations in the deployment of the police. There was great fear of further escalation.

Due to the unrest, ‘some’ – how many exactly is unclear – Legia supporters managed to enter without a ticket.

Immediately after the match

Around the stadium

Due to the violence that took place before the match, the police decided that it was not a good idea to allow the Legia supporters to leave at the same time as the home fans. The supporters of the Polish club were held behind fences in the parking lot for some time.

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According to photographers present after the match, the Polish supporters were eventually allowed to leave around 11:45 p.m. The municipality cannot say anything further about how this happened, but the photographers present tell NH that the exodus went relatively smoothly.

In the stadium

In contrast to the relative peace outside the stadium, it appears that there was enormous chaos inside the stadium. Legia Warsaw players and staff were kept in the stadium, and were not happy about it, to say the least. Opinions differ about what exactly happened, but according to the quadrangle (the Alkmaar municipality, police, Public Prosecution Service and AZ) two of the Polish players abused AZ staff.

The personnel were injured to such an extent that medical care was required. According to De Telegraaf, it concerns a concussion and a broken elbow.

The players and staff then left for the players bus. The riot police then surrounded the bus. At the time this happened, the Legia supporters were still present in the parking lot, and according to the Public Prosecution Service, the police were partly present to protect the players and board members. In addition, they wanted to arrest the two players who had abused the AZ staff.

The Polish reading of these events is very different. They speak of excessive violence and frequently share the video below, made by the co-owner of the club from the players’ bus. It shows that things are going hard outside.

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Today

Slowly but surely this morning it became increasingly clear what exactly happened in Alkmaar. Polish media were the first to report that the people arrested after the match were players. This also quickly resulted in an identification on the Polish side: it was Pankov and Josué. From the Dutch side it was only stated that it concerned a Serb and a Portuguese.

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Anger from the Polish side

Early this morning, the Polish Prime Minister announced via X (former Twitter, ed.). to be angry about Dutch police action. He is even said to have sought redress from Rutte, who was at a summit in Spain with the prime minister. In any case, the Polish Public Prosecution Service has announced that it will investigate the situation. It is now also clear that Poland has summoned the Dutch ambassador.

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Legia Warsaw is also furious. In a press conference lasting more than an hour, the subject was, among other things, the heavy action by the police. Videos were also shown.

Research here, research there

The quadrangle conducts research into a lot of things. How this could happen, for example, and which of the Polish supporters exactly crossed the line.

They are also investigating what measures they can take to prevent this in the future. For example, the banning of away fans from high-risk matches is being considered. That is not only because of last night – but also because of the duel with West Ham United earlier this year.

Trainer is disappointed

Trainer Pascal Jansen bummed. He believes that what happened cannot be justified and says that it distracts from football. According to him, it seems that the players can move forward, because a top match against Ajax is on the menu on Sunday.

In any case, it is clear that the last word has not yet been said about the disturbances around the stadium.