Belgium and Sweden won’t be forced to replay their Euro 2024 qualifying match after it was postponed earlier this week due to a terorrist attack.
On Monday, a man killed two Sweden fans in Brussels before he was then shot dead in a local cafe.
Sweden players learned of the attack at half time and decided against playing in the second half.
The match was level at 1-1 after goals from Viktor Gyokeres and Romelu Lukaku.
Sweden fans were kept inside the ground in Belgium until 4am
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Now, UEFA have confirmed the showdown at the King Baudouin Stadium won’t resume – after fans were kept inside the ground until 4am.
“With regard to the European Qualifier match between Belgium and Sweden abandoned at half-time upon request and agreement of the two teams, following the terrorist attack that killed two Swedish supporters in Brussels on 16 October,” a statement read.
“The UEFA Executive Committee decided today that: The match is abandoned and the result at the half-time interval (1-1) is confirmed as final, each team is awarded one point with the Group F standings to be updated accordingly and any suspension is considered served and single yellow cards remain valid.
“To take the mentioned decision, the Executive Committee took note that it had proved impossible to play the remaining part of the match on the following day.
“Both the Royal Belgian Football Association and the Swedish Football Association, given the circumstances, explicitly expressed their desire not to play the remaining match time and to consider the result at the half-time interval (1-1) as final.
“The result of this match does not impact the qualification of Group F since Belgium is already mathematically qualified to the UEFA EURO 2024 final tournament (together with Austria) and Sweden is mathematically eliminated.
“The respective fixtures do not allow any date to be used in the upcoming November international window, when the preliminary group stage of the competition must be concluded, to be followed by the play-off draw and final tournament draw.”A
Tunisian man named by Belgian media as Abdesalem L was killed by police after he’d boasted of his crimes on social media.
Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof had called for the game against Belgium to be scrapped after the terrifying evening.
“Belgium are already qualified and we don’t have the opportunity to get to the European Championship, so I see no reason to play [replay the game]” he said.
Belgian FA CEO Manu Leroy had been forced to explain the game going ahead in the first half, with the terror attack taking place 10 minutes before kick off.
He said: “Ten minutes before the match, reports started coming in about what had happened around the stadium.
“In consultation with the security and order services, it was then announced whether we could start the match.
“After the first half, the captain of Sweden announced that they did not want to start the second half.”
Leroy then proceeded to discuss how the stadium could be safely evacuated.
“The decision was made at the highest level at 11.45pm,” he explained.
“Stand by stand we looked at how we could best lead the people out.
“The Swedish fans received a police escort, the players left under police escort to the airport to fly back to their home country.”
When quizzed on whether the match would ever resume, Leroy sounded unsure at the time.
“Only time will tell,” he said. “It is surreal what happened.
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Police shot dead the shooter who murdered two Sweden fans
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“The players quickly knew at half time that the situation was serious, but first we had to get confirmation of the facts.
“As for the Belgian players: Everyone was allowed to leave as agreed.
“Some went home, others to the players’ hotel.”
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