A tragic incident involving shooting two Swedes people getting shot in Brussels forced the abandonment of the Euro 2024 qualifying fixture against Belgium. The match was suspended at halftime and eventually called off. Belgium triggered a high terror alert for its citizens as a man in one of the social media videos claimed to be the assailant and from an Islamic state.
UEFA released a statement, which said the below:
"Following a suspected terrorist attack in Brussels this evening, it has been decided after consultation with the two teams and the local police authorities, that the UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying match between Belgium and Sweden is abandoned."
A few Swedes reporters revealed that they came to know about the incident before the two teams' national anthems. With Sweden players informing UEFA about not wanting to play in the 2nd half, the Belgians agreed. The score was 1-1 when the news of suspension followed.
"We didn't want to play on out of respect for the victims and their families" - Janne Andersson
Sweden coach Janne Andersson told the reporters that he was shocked to hear about the incident and they made the decision immediately about not wanting to play. He stated, as quoted by Reuters.
"When I came down for the break, I got this information. Immediately, I felt that it was completely unreal. What kind of world do we live in today? I came into the locker room and when the team started talking we agreed 100 percent that we didn't want to play on out of respect for the victims and their families."
Belgium have already qualified for the finals in Germany next year, but Austria's draw against Azerbaijan on Monday prevented Sweden from progressing.
