Uefa confirm Belgium vs Sweden result as 1-1 after match was abandoned following Brussels attack
THE result for Belgium’s Euro 2024 qualifier with Sweden will stand after the official abandonment of the match.
The midweek qualifier was postponed at halftime after news of two Swedish fans being shot dead by a terrorist in Brussels filtered through to both teams.
Both sets of players refused to carry on with the match, leading to the ref to call off the match.
It was initially unclear if UEFA would opt to replay the remainder of the match – which was level at 1-1 – at a later date.
But the European footie governing body have opted against doing so, deciding the 1-1 result will stand.
A Uefa statement read: “With regard to the European Qualifier match between Belgium and Sweden abandoned at half-time upon request and agreement of the two teams, following the terrorist attack that killed two Swedish supporters in Brussels on 16 October, the UEFA Executive Committee decided today that: The match is abandoned and the result at the half-time interval (1-1) is confirmed as final, each team is awarded one point with the Group F standings to be updated accordingly and any suspension is considered served and single yellow cards remain valid.
“To take the mentioned decision, the Executive Committee took note that it had proved impossible to play the remaining part of the match on the following day.
“Both the Royal Belgian Football Association and the Swedish Football Association, given the circumstances, explicitly expressed their desire not to play the remaining match time and to consider the result at the half-time interval (1-1) as final.
“The result of this match does not impact the qualification of Group F since Belgium is already mathematically qualified to the UEFA EURO 2024 final tournament (together with Austria) and Sweden is mathematically eliminated
“The respective fixtures do not allow any date to be used in the upcoming November international window, when the preliminary group stage of the competition must be concluded, to be followed by the play-off draw and final tournament draw.”
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