Colombia’s football federation president and son among 27 arrested in chaos at Copa America final

Ramon Jesurun and his son Ramon Jamil Jesurun were detained after the event at Hard Rock Stadium and charged. (AFP/File)
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Updated 16 July 2024
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Colombia’s football federation president and son among 27 arrested in chaos at Copa America final

  • Both men are facing three counts of felony battery on an official after being accused of fighting multiple stadium security guards
  • In a statement released Monday, CONMEBOL said it regrets the scene in which countless fans entered the stadium without tickets and “tarnished” the event

MIAMI GARDENS, Florida: Colombia’s football federation president and his son were among 27 people arrested during the crowd control issues that broke out Sunday at the Copa America final between Argentina and Colombia, police said Monday.

Ramon Jesurun and his son Ramon Jamil Jesurun were detained after the event at Hard Rock Stadium and charged, Miami-Dade police detective Andre Martin told The Associated Press.

Both men are facing three counts of felony battery on an official after being accused of fighting multiple stadium security guards. Arrest records said both men tried to go onto the field through a tunnel where media was gathering after the match. They were stopped by security, and the police report said they “became irate” at the delay. A verbal altercation eventually turned physical with a guard placing an “open palm” on Ramon Jamil Jesurun’s chest to “guide him back” and the younger Jesurun grabbing the guard “around his neck” and pulling him to the ground before throwing “two punches that impacted” the guard, the report said. The two men were placed into custody after midnight.

Colombia’s football federation didn’t immediately respond Monday to a request for comment from the AP.

Ramon Jesurun, 71, has been president of the Colombian football federation since 2015 and is a vice president of CONMEBOL, South American football’s governing body that organizes the Copa America tournament.




Ramon Jesurun, the head of Colombia’s football federation, is shown in this police booking photo after an altercation at the stadium shortly after midnight, according to arrest reports by Miami police, in Miami, Florida, Monday. (Reuters)

In a statement released Monday, the organization said it regrets the scene in which countless fans entered the stadium without tickets and “tarnished” the event. The game was delayed for more than an hour as authorities worked to control the situation, eventually deciding to let some fans in without going through security checkpoints.

“In this situation, CONMEBOL was subject to the decisions made by the Hard Rock Stadium authorities, according to the contractual responsibilities established for security operations,” the organization said. “In addition to the preparations determined in this contract, CONMEBOL recommended to these authorities the procedures proven in events of this magnitude, which were NOT taken into account.”

Hard Rock Stadium — the site of 2026 World Cup matches — said security was a shared responsibility between its stadium officials, the organization, CONCACAF (the governing body that oversees football in North and Central America and the Caribbean) and local police.

“More than double the personnel” used for a typical event were onsite Sunday, a stadium spokesperson said in a news release.

Miami-Dade police said more than 800 law enforcement officers were at the match. In addition to the arrests, 55 people were ejected, they said.

It was a chaotic scene just hours before the scheduled 8 p.m. start of the championship match between the two South American countries: Fans forced their way in and jumped over security railings and ran past police officers and stadium attendants, some appearing hysterical as they searched for the people they arrived with.

There appeared to be significant damage to the venue as a result. Video and images posted to social media showed the shattered side railings of an escalator inside the stadium, with shoes, soda cans, reading glasses and articles of clothing left behind. Security railings at a checkpoint in the southwest entrance to the stadium were bent over as thousands of people, including crying children, pushed against them.

The Hard Rock Stadium release said stadium officials communicated with tournament organizers around 8 p.m. and decided to open the gates to both ticketed and unticketed fans who were thrust against the entrance in fear of stampedes and serious injuries. The gates were then closed with many ticketed fans left outside.

The stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, which is home to the NFL’s Dolphins, will be the site of seven World Cup matches in 2026, including a quarterfinal and third-place match.

FIFA organizes the World Cup and is a different organization from CONMEBOL. FIFA is an international federation that oversees more than 200 affiliated associations under regional bodies like CONMEBOL.

Ramon Jesurun is also a member of the FIFA Council.

FIFA did not immediately respond Monday to the AP’s request for comment on the crowd control issues and how it would prevent similar problems in 2026.

Attorney Steve Adelman, a crowd control expert and vice president of the Event Safety Alliance, said Hard Rock organizers failed to understand that Sunday’s game would bring out passionate fans desperate to see their teams, some willing to force their way inside.

“A match between fans of two rival South American nations is about as passionate as you’re going to get,” he said.

Adelman said organizers should have learned from the 2021 Euro Cup final at London’s Wembley Stadium, where ticketless England fans forced their way inside for their team’s match with Italy. The melee injured 19 police officers and resulted in 53 arrests. In 1989, 97 people were fatally crushed at a major English match when fans forced their way into the stadium.

“Unfortunately, international football matches have been marked by this sort of aggressive supporter behavior,” Adelman said. “This behavior is not desirable, it’s not good, but it is reasonably foreseeable. ... They needed to plan for the crowd they were likely to have, not the crowd they wished they had.”


Australia struggle in World Cup qualifying as Son lifts South Korea

Updated 10 September 2024
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Australia struggle in World Cup qualifying as Son lifts South Korea

  • Australia carved out a succession of chances but lacked any cutting edge, coming closest when Bayern Munich teenager Nestory Irankunda thundered a shot against the post
  • South Korea’s English Premier League strike force of Hwang Hee-chan and Son Heung-min both scored as they beat Oman 3-1 in Muscat

HONG KONG: Australia failed to score for the second successive match, but Son Heung-min scored a stunning goal as South Korea got off the mark in Asian World Cup qualifying on Tuesday.
Graham Arnold’s Socceroos, having been shocked at home 1-0 by Bahrain last week, dominated a Group C encounter with Indonesia but were held 0-0 in front of almost 80,000 fans at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta.
Australia carved out a succession of chances but lacked any cutting edge, coming closest when Bayern Munich teenager Nestory Irankunda thundered a shot against the post.
“It was our game all along,” Irankunda said. “We should have won it. We should have put them away in the first half.”
Next month, Arnold’s men face China at home in Group C and then a tough trip to in-form Japan.
“There’s eight games to go,” said Arnold. “It’s not like it’s a disaster, but I’ve got to go home and do a lot of thinking.”
South Korea’s English Premier League strike force of Hwang Hee-chan and Son Heung-min both scored as they beat Oman 3-1 in Muscat.
Wolverhampton’s Hwang opened the scoring after 19 minutes before Jung Seungh-hyun’s own goal equalized on the stroke of half-time.
Tottenham’s Son got South Korea’s second, turning outside the box and firing home an unstoppable left-foot finish on 82 minutes.
Joo Min-kyu put the result beyond doubt in the 11th minute of added time after being played in by Son.
It was South Korea’s first win in the final Asian qualifying phase after they were held goalless at home by Palestine last week.
The Palestinians could not repeat their heroic performance in Seoul, however, and were beaten 3-1 by Jordan in a match played in Kuala Lumpur because of the war in Gaza.
North Korea drew 2-2 with Asian Cup champions Qatar in wild weather in a Group A match played in Vientiane.
Ri Il Song gave North Korea an early lead, in what was nominally their home fixture, before they were reduced to 10 men when Jang Kuk Chol was red carded for preventing a goal-scoring opportunity.
Akram Afif scored the resulting penalty and Almoez Ali put the Qataris 2-1 up at half-time.
After the break, the heavens opened violently, dumping huge amounts of water on the Laos National Stadium pitch.
Kang Kuk Chol pierced the gloom with a rasping free-kick equalizer from 30 yards before puddles on the pitch grew into lakes leaving the referee no choice but to take the players off.
There was a delay of more than 20 minutes until the rain eased but when the teams resumed there were no further goals as the players struggled on the waterlogged surface.
In another Group A match Uzbekistan beat Kyrgyzstan 3-2 in Bishkek.
The top two from each of the three six-team Asian groups will be guaranteed a place at the expanded 48-team World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The third qualifying round wraps up in June.


Vincent Labrune re-elected to another 4-year term as French soccer league president

Updated 10 September 2024
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Vincent Labrune re-elected to another 4-year term as French soccer league president

  • The league (LFP) said Labrune received strong support from the board and was then elected by the general assembly in the first round
  • The vote was expected to be tighter because Labrune had faced criticism in recent months over the handling of the league’s TV rights

PARIS: French league president Vincent Labrune was re-elected Tuesday to another four-year term with an overwhelming majority.
The league (LFP) said Labrune, who was formerly club president of nine-time French champion Marseille, received strong support from the board and was then elected by the general assembly in the first round of ballots with 85.67 percent percent of the votes.
“After a first mandate marked by emergency solutions and long-term responses to the unprecedented crisis in the financing of audiovisual rights, an era of transformation for professional soccer has now begun,” the league said in a statement.”
The vote was expected to be tighter because Labrune had faced criticism in recent months over the handling of the league’s TV rights.
Following the collapse of its record-breaking TV rights contract with Spanish-based broadcaster Mediapro four years ago, the league hoped it could get up to 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) per year from the sale of broadcasting rights for 2024-29 but had to lower its target.
In the end, the league settled for 500 million euros per year after sealing a late deal with British streaming platform DAZN and BeIN Sports.
Under Labrune, the French soccer league also approved an investment deal with private equity firm CVC Capital Partners as part of a new commercial subsidiary in charge of marketing media rights. CVC invested 1.5 billion euros in return for a 13 percent stake in the new commercial subsidiary managing TV rights, valuing the entire capital of the commercial subsidiary at 11.5 billion euros.
The CVC deal, which was sealed in 2022 after French soccer came close of bankruptcy, is supported by a large majority of clubs. But it has been challenged by Le Havre, which launched a lawsuit against the French league because it is unhappy with the repartition of the money.
In addition, the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office said this year it was assessing a complaint focusing on possible misappropriation of public funds when the LFP’s trading company was created following the partial transfer of capital to CVC.
The league said Tuesday it will now work on reducing the deficit of its clubs and enhancing the value of its competitions in partnership with broadcasters and CVC.
After the Mediapro collapse, the league was forced to ask the government to set up a financial rescue plan amid huge revenue losses exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. The deal with Mediapro should have been worth more than 4 billion euros ($4.8 billion) over four years for the top two tiers but collapsed after only four months.


Italy beat Israel in Nations League

Updated 10 September 2024
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Italy beat Israel in Nations League

BUDAPEST: Italy continued their post-Euro 2024 recovery on Monday with a tight 2-1 Nations League win over Israel in Budapest.

Goals in each half from Davide Frattesi and Moise Kean were enough for Italy to win in a subdued atmosphere at the Bozsik Arena which hosted the Israel home fixture due to the security situation in the Middle East.

Luciano Spalletti’s team have reacted well to their disastrous European Championship title defense, which ended at the last-16 stage, and were deserved winners on a soaking night in the Hungarian capital.

The crowd of 2,000 fans meant Monday’s match didn’t have the feel of a senior international match, with the main off-pitch event coming during Israel’s national anthem ahead of kick-off, when a small group of Italy fans turned their backs to the pitch.

The Azzurri were slow starters as they were in Friday’s 3-1 win over France in Paris, but were not punished by Israel and grew into the match.

By the time Frattesi chested home Federico Dimarco’s pinpoint cross in the 38th minute, his sixth international goal since Spalletti replaced Roberto Mancini just over a year ago, Italy were firmly on top.

Sagiv Jehezkel should have levelled for Israel just after half-time when he failed to divert Dor Peretz’s scuffed shot past Gianluigi Donnarumma from close range.

But in the 62nd minute Fiorentina striker Kean scored his first Italy goal in almost exactly three years to seal the points, with Mohamed Abu Fani’s strike in the final minute too late for Israel to mount a comeback.


France beat Belgium with Kolo Muani and Dembele goals

Updated 10 September 2024
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France beat Belgium with Kolo Muani and Dembele goals

LYON: Randal Kolo Muani and Ousmane Dembele scored the goals as France bounced back from a home loss to Italy at the weekend by beating Belgium 2-0 in the UEFA Nations League on Monday.

It was not a full-strength French team that took to the field for the game in Lyon, with captain Kylian Mbappe dropping out as one of eight changes made by coach Didier Deschamps.

France lost 3-1 to Italy in Paris on Friday despite taking the lead inside 13 seconds, while Belgium came into this match fresh from beating Israel by the same scoreline.

This game was a repeat of the Euro 2024 last-16 tie which France won 1-0 in Duesseldorf thanks to a late own goal.

Les Bleus went ahead here just before the half-hour mark, Kolo Muani applying the finish after Dembele’s mishit shot was pushed out by Belgian goalkeeper Koen Casteels.

A Belgian side captained by Kevin De Bruyne could not find an equalizer and France scored again on 57 minutes thanks to a fine individual effort by Dembele.

The Paris Saint-Germain winger skipped inside from the right wing before blasting a shot into the net on his left foot.

Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Michael Olize were among the players who came off the bench for France in the second half, as they saw out a victory which will boost confidence after the disappointing defeat by Italy.

The Italians are on top of Group A2 with six points out of six after beating Israel 2-1 on Monday.

France and Belgium have three points apiece, while Israel are bottom without a point.

The next matches are in October, including Italy playing Belgium in Rome, and Israel meeting France on neutral territory in Budapest.


Ronaldo scores late winner as a substitute for Portugal as 10-man Spain overpower Switzerland

Updated 09 September 2024
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Ronaldo scores late winner as a substitute for Portugal as 10-man Spain overpower Switzerland

  • Ronaldo failed to score at all in five games at the recent European Championship, but Portugal coach Robert Martinez has kept faith with the country’s greatest ever player
  • Fabian Ruiz scored twice for Spain in their 4-1 win at Switzerland, with the recently crowned European champions emerging victorious despite playing the majority of the game with only 10 men

LONDON: Cristiano Ronaldo is showing just why Portugal are persisting with him at the age of 39.

Make that a record-extending 132 international goals for the five-time world player of the year after Ronaldo came on as a halftime substitute and slotted home an 88th-minute winner for Portugal in their 2-1 victory over Scotland in the Nations League on Sunday.

Minutes earlier, Ronaldo had struck both posts within a matter of seconds. Indeed, he was an ever-present danger in Lisbon, demonstrating he is far from finished as a force in international soccer — especially against the likes of a struggling Scotland.

Ronaldo failed to score at all in five games at the recent European Championship, but Portugal coach Robert Martinez has kept faith with the country’s greatest ever player and is reaping the rewards.

On Thursday, Ronaldo scored his 900th career goal — spanning games for club and country — in a 2-1 win over Croatia.

The quest for 1,000 began three days later and he didn’t disappoint, despite only playing one half.

In stoppage time, a spectator got on the field and attempted to get a selfie with Ronaldo, but was stopped by security. That happened repeatedly at Euro 2024.

Scotland went ahead through Scott McTominay in the seventh minute before an equalizer from the edge of the area by Bruno Fernandes in the 54th.

Enduring Modric

Luka Modric turns 39 on Monday but, like Ronaldo, remains as integral as ever for his country.

The Real Madrid midfielder again demonstrated his enduring quality by clipping home an exquisite free kick from the edge of the box in Croatia’s 1-0 win over Poland.

It was Modric’s 27th goal in 180 appearances for his country, which left him tied with former Spain defender Sergio Ramos as the second highest-capped European players in men’s international soccer — only behind Ronaldo with 214.

Robert Lewandowski, another veteran at age 36, hit the goal frame for Poland, who beat Scotland 3-2 in the first round of Nations League group games on Thursday.

Ruiz shines for Spain

Fabian Ruiz scored twice for Spain in their 4-1 win at Switzerland, with the recently crowned European champions emerging victorious despite playing the majority of the game with only 10 men.

Center back Robin Le Normand was shown a straight red card in the 20th minute for bringing down Breel Embolo as the last man, by which time Spain was leading 2-0 thanks to Joselu’s header from Lamine Yamal’s cross in the fourth minute and Ruiz’s goal in the 13th after Nico Williams’ shot was saved.

Zeki Amdouni pulled a goal back for the Swiss before halftime but substitute Ferran Torres set up Ruiz for his second goal then scored himself to clinch Spain’s first win of its Nations League title defense. The team drew 0-0 at Serbia on Thursday.

Eriksson tribute

Swedish soccer fans paid tribute to one of the country’s most famous coaches — and then celebrated the further blossoming of the team’s new strikeforce.

There was a minute’s silence before Sweden’s home match with Estonia in honor of Sven-Goran Eriksson, who died on Aug. 26 after battling cancer. An image of Eriksson was shown on the big screens in the Strawberry Arena just outside Stockholm.

Sweden won 3-0, with Viktor Gyokeres — with two goals — and Alexander Isak scoring. They also each scored in a 3-1 win in Azerbaijan on Thursday, with the Swedes showing improved form after missing out on qualification for both the World Cup in 2022 and this year’s Euros.

There was another Scandinavian win as Denmark beat Serbia 2-0 thanks to goals by Albert Gronbaek and Yussuf Poulsen.