May 29, 1985

Heysel

A crumbling terrace wall before a European Cup final

3,611 held · 61 days 39 died 0 named here

Fans charged across a poorly segregated terrace. People fleeing were pressed against a retaining wall and it gave way.

Thirty-nine were killed, thirty-two of them Italian. The match was played anyway, an hour and a half late, because the police feared worse if it were not.

English clubs were banned from European competition for five years. The ground had been condemned as unfit before the final was awarded to it.