Public authorities and football leaders have a responsibility to protect the safety and welfare of footballers in their workplace, and we anticipate the strongest possible measures to address the violence yesterday by fans of Trabzonspor.
The perpetrators who hurled objects at players and entered the pitch to confront the opposing team must be held accountable for their actions to underline that violence is not acceptable in any part of professional football.
The constant missile throwing and lighting of flares during the match also demand evaluation as to whether the match should have been suspended before the aggressions escalated after the final whistle.
Yesterday’s events and last week’s attack on Italian player Ciro Immobile and his family are symbolic of a bigger trend across football markets. They reinforce concerns raised in the FIFPRO Men’s Football Workplace Safety Report published in January: two-thirds of national unions felt that in recent years parts of fan culture have “become increasingly more violent and abusive” and 98 percent of unions called for greater use of technology in stadiums to counter the trend alongside other measures such as fan dialogue.
In early April, FIFPRO Europe and Cypriot player union PASP will host a range of national and international experts under the auspices of the Cyprus National Police to further discuss the health and safety of players at work.
2023 Workplace Safety Report: The impact of violence towards footballers in their workplace
