LAUSANNE, Switzerland – The riots that killed 74 people in Egypt were sickeningly familiar for soccer: a rush to the field by fans, fighting, a deadly stampede — scenes replayed over and over at stadiums around the world. This time, however, there were important differences.
Most important, context. Soccer in the Arab world has long been tied to politics. Before the Arab Spring, attending soccer games was one of the few outlets to vent frustration about life under autocratic leaders. In Egypt, hardcore fans known as Ultras played an important role in the popular uprising that toppled former leader Hosni Mubarak last year.
“The background to the violence in Egypt and in the Middle East in soccer stadiums is fundamentally different from that anywhere else in the world,” said James Dorsey, author of the blog, “The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer,” and an expert at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
The Port Said stadium where the violence erupted Wednesday after an Egyptian league match isn’t a top-class stadium like Manchester United’s giant Old Trafford. But nor should it have been a death trap. Built in the 1950s, it was refurbished ahead of the Under-20 World Cup organized by world
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