The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced that it will impose penalties on Thailand's 22 and Indonesia's U22 teams after the violence in the final match of the 32nd SEA Games.
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| AFC may take disciplinary action against U22 Indonesia and U22 Thailand in the final match of SEA Games 32. (Photo: Thanh Vu) |
On May 17, Reuters quoted a source from the AFC saying that Asia's largest football organization is considering disciplinary action against U22 Thailand and U22 Indonesia.
In the final match of the 32nd SEA Games on the evening of March 16, the two teams turned the Olympic stadium into a boxing ring, forcing the police to intervene.
The riot arose when referee Kassem Matar Al-Hatmi (Oman) allowed the match to continue at minute 90'+9, after an Indonesian player was injured.
Immediately, U22 Thailand scored and some members of the coaching staff of the "War Elephants" team rushed to the technical area of U22 Indonesia to celebrate.
Tensions escalated when U22 Indonesia took a 3-2 lead right after entering extra time.
The brawl resulted in referee Kassem Matar Al-Hatmi issuing a total of seven red cards to coaching staff (three) and players from both teams (four). Five of those were given to Thailand U22, who finished the final with only eight players.
"The AFC is disappointed by the chaos at the SEA Games football final," a spokesman for the Asian confederation told Reuters .
"The AFC stresses the importance of fair play, mutual respect, sportsmanship and will not tolerate any such acts of violence."
The Football Association of Thailand (FAT) confirmed that it has appointed an investigation committee to thoroughly investigate the incident.
FAT affirmed to take strict disciplinary action against any individual involved in the incident, which tarnishes the image of Thai football.
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