BRUSSELS (AP) — A moment of silence will be observed at games in Belgium and Sweden as a tribute to the two Swedish soccer fans killed this week in Brussels ahead of a European Championship qualifier.
The Belgian league said that “next matchday all games will start with a minute of silence in honor of the two Swedish football fans who lost their lives in the terrorist attack in Brussels. This minute of silence will take place at both Belgian and Swedish football grounds.”
Investigators are still trying to determine the motive for Monday night’s attack, which occurred not far from the King Baudouin stadium where the qualifier took place.
Authorities in the Belgian capital shot and killed the suspect on Tuesday, hours after they say he gunned down three Swedish fans, killing two of them. He posted a video online in which he claimed credit for the attack and said the Quran was “a red line for which he is ready to sacrifice himself.”
The game was abandoned at halftime with the score 1-1.
“The match was stopped but the grief will be carried forever," said Manu Leroy, the CEO of the Belgian FA. "That is why this coming weekend we want to show our Swedish friends that we support them and help carry their loss. Because precisely that is the power of football: bringing people together, across borders.”
His Swedish counterpart, Håkan Sjöstrand, welcomed “the Belgian gesture of joining us in our grief with great gratitude and appreciation.”
“A moment of silence in Belgian football shows that the Belgians also think of the victims and their relatives,” he said.
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