UAE Could Be Punished For Missile Throwing Fans

After North Korea took a 2-0 lead, fans threw water bottles on the pitch, one of which hit a visiting player. Play was stopped for almost ten minutes.

The UAE FA is to investigate the matter and in the meantime, the AFC is to wait for the referee’s report and will then decide what measures to take.

Lt Col Rashid Suhail of Abu Dhabi Police told The National that new measures would be taken to ensure that such scenes are not repeated.

“The crowd reacted in a bad way to the goal and started throwing water bottles, so security stopped the game.

“Both the police and security spoke to the head of the supporters’ groups who then spoke with the crowd and asked them to stop throwing bottles.”

“Originally, it was not allowed to take water bottles into the stadium, so in co-operation between our department and the football association we are going to sign an agreement to stop water being sold there,” Lt Col Suhail said.