Ivory Coast fined after stadium tragedy
Those killed or injured had hoped to catch a glimpse of Didier Drogba
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Wednesday, 22, Jul 2009 02:53
The Ivorian Football Federation has been fined $47,000 (£28,600) by Fifa following the inquiry into the stadium tragedy that marred March's World Cup qualifier with Malawi.
Twenty people died and over 130 were injured in a stampede at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan as excited fans rushed for a look at the countries' heroes, several of whom ply their trade in the Premier League.
In addition to the fine, football's governing body imposed restrictions on forthcoming games at the stadium. The Elephants' next fixture, against Burkino Faso on September 5th, will have attendance limited to 20,000 in the 34,600-capacity ground, and a series of traffic calming measures will be introduced within a mile of the stadium.
Checkpoints will also need to be erected around 200m from the usual entrance to help with the flow of spectators entering the ground.
A statement on Fifa's website said, "In the event of any similar incidents, Fifa would have no choice but to impose more severe sanctions on the Ivorian Football Association.
"All future matches will not be allowed to kick off until the designated Fifa security officer is satisfied with all aspects of stadium safety and security."
Fifa said it has donated over $93,000 (£56,724) to support families of the victims while the Ivory Coast government has opened its own investigation into the tragedy.