The Karaiskakis Stadium disaster, also called the Gate 7 Tragedy, was an incident that occurred on 8 February 1981 at the

Karaiskakis Stadium The Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium (), commonly referred to as the Karaiskakis Stadium (, ), is a Association football, football stadium in Piraeus, Attica, Greece, and the home ground of the Piraeus football club Olympiacos F.C., Olympiacos. It i ...

in Neo Faliro,

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, after the conclusion of a football match between

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

and

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

. It is the worst football

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

in Greece's history.

The incident

A total of 21 people, 20 supporters of

and one supporter of AEK, died while rushing out of the stadium to celebrate the 6–0 victory of

against AEK. The accident occurred in the historic Gate 7 (Θύρα 7). The stadium has since been rebuilt as a modern football field (not a stadium). The accident occurred at Gate 7 of the stadium, a gate where supporters of

were concentrated, however, one of the victims was a supporter of AEK, a friend of an Olympiacos supporter.

Causes

There are still debates regarding the causes that led to the disaster. The main cause of the accident, according to the official police report, seems to have been a partially closed door. While exiting, some fans lost their balance and fell on the last steps: dozens fell onto each other and were stepped over by a horde of unsuspecting fans who kept coming in. 19 supporters died at the stadium, while another two died of their injuries in hospital, with 55 being injured, many of them seriously. Most of the dead and wounded were teenagers and young adults.

Legacy

Annual memorial service

In memory of this event, every year on February 8, there is a memorial service at the stadium in honor of the supporters that died in that incident. The service is attended by thousands of fans every year, who are rhythmically shouting the phrase "Αδέρφια, ζείτε, εσείς μας οδηγείτε." (''Adhérfia, zíte, esís mas odhiyíte'', "Brothers, you live, you are the ones who guide us."). At the tribune part of the stadium at Gate 7, some seats are colored black instead of red, shaping the number "7", whereas there is also a monument on the eastern side of the stadium, bearing the names of all 21 supporters killed on that day.

Other teams

Even though this incident affected almost solely the fanbase of Olympiacos, other teams occasionally pay their respects to the people killed as well, as they consider the incident to be a tragedy not only for one team but for the whole country. In the past, even foreign teams, such as

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...

and

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

have honored the incident's victims.

Gate 7 fan group

"Gate 7" (Θύρα 7), οne of the biggest and most supportive fan clubs of

, was named after the incident. Although "Gate 7" members are generally considered to be

ultras Ultras are a type of association football fans who are known for their fanatical support. The term originated in Italy, but is used worldwide to describe predominantly organised fans of association football teams. The behavioural tendency ...

, the people sitting in that gate before and during the incident were normal supporters, without season tickets (as in the old stadium only gate 1—which was a VIP gate—supported some season tickets).

References

External links

The chronicle of the incident
at the Olympiakos website
Gate 7 fans Website
* http://www.gate7.gr/821981/ Photo Tribute * http://www.gate7.gr/777/1.pdf Newspapers {{DEFAULTSORT:Karaiskakis Stadium disaster Human stampedes in 1981 Stadium disasters Man-made disasters in Greece Olympiacos F.C. 1981 disasters in Greece 1981 in Greek sport 1980s in Athens February 1981 sports events in Europe