Terror attack at Belgium match raises security questions for major sports events

By half-time, the news had reached a majority of those inside the Stade Roi Baudouin. They learnt that two of the spectators who had been making their way to Brussels’s main stadium for Monday night’s Euro 2024 qualifier between Belgium and Sweden never made it to their seats.

They had been shot, fatally, some 90 minutes before the scheduled kick-off. It is believed they were targeted for being Swedish.

The gunman, killed by police bullets the following morning, knew their nationality by their clothes, Sweden colours, worn with enthusiasm to a fixture that should have been about shared, patriotic pride – and only about that.

The Sweden national team was already very unlikely to reach next summer’s Euros. At 1-1 after 45 minutes in Brussels, their hopes were hanging on the sliver of a slim chance of somehow making it into the March play-offs.

It was during half-time that the Swedish players learnt of the deaths of their compatriots. In the grandstands, meanwhile, spectators scrolled phones for updates on the breaking story.

A loud bang from a firework caused unusual, jittery alarm because of the circumstances, memories being stirred of similar incidents, where terrorism has impacted on a sporting event.

Eight years ago, three bombs were detonated outside the Stade de France, just north of Paris, while France were playing Germany in a friendly designed as preparation for the following summer’s European championships.

Then, the reaction from some of the crowd to the noise of the first bomb, exploding 16 minutes into the first half, was to assume it was just a firework. The next explosion was louder. By the time the third bomb went off, four people in the area outside the stadium, including the three bombers, had died.

Polic