The European Championship qualifying match between Sweden and Belgium was interrupted at the half-time break, with the score 1-1, at the request of both teams. This after two Swedish citizens have been killed a few kilometers from the arena, hours before the match.
The audience and the team have been asked by the Belgian police to remain in the arena and also SvFF’s chairman Fredrik Reinfeldt who met the assembled press.
– It is with a heavy heart that we note that the football we love has been hit by a major attack in Brussels. Swedish supporters have suffered as we know. Uefa has made a decision that both national teams have agreed to cancel the match. The police have announced that the safest place is to be inside the arena, he says.
– As you know, the perception of terrorist threats has been raised in Sweden. We have long taken it for granted that as a Swede you can travel to different places in the world. We don’t want to associate football with this, but what has happened is serious.
What do you make of the decision to complete the first half?
– I think everyone understands that what is happening is that you have to get together and have discussions about what has happened. It was also good to speak directly to the national teams who then decided not to play. Football is important to a certain point.
The text is updated.
Watch SVT Nyheter’s broadcast about the shooting in Brussels: