Video: Bulgarian supporters attack Israeli footballers
Israeli football players were chased from a Bulgarian pitch after being bottled and attacked by fans during a match on Sunday.
Dramatic footage showed the frightening moment when supporters of CSKA Sofia charged onto the pitch armed with makeshift weapons and chased after players from Ashdod, some of whom were left with light injuries.
The flare-up occurred after an Israeli player launched a wild challenge against one of the home team’s midfielders, which earned the Israeli a red card.
As CSKA players rounded on the offender, a camera captured incensed fans piling out of the stands and onto the pitch, with bottles raining down on the Israeli team from the terraces.
CSKA players and officials sought to stop the stampede, as most Israeli players took flight to a vacant stand opposite. Ashdod players who stayed on the pitch to calm tensions were hit with fists and bottles. Others ran up the opposite stand’s stairway and out of the ground.
Tension had been increasing throughout the ill-tempered match, and after the players were chased from the pitch, Israeli coaching staff were targeted in the dugout, with fans smashing against protective barriers, hurling abuse.
Despite being the most successful team in Bulgarian history, CSKA Sofia was relegated to the country’s third division for financial reasons, and has suffered from hooliganism from a section of fans known as “ultras”.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
