CHARLOTTE — A brawl broke out between players and fans during a Copa America match at Bank of America Stadium in uptown Charlotte on Wednesday night.
Darwin Nunez and about a dozen of his Uruguay teammates ran into the stands after a 1–0 defeat, sparking a mass brawl.
After a thrashing and violent match, a brawl broke out behind the Uruguay bench as Mexican referee Cesar Ramos blew the final whistle.
Drinks were then thrown between Uruguayan and Colombian supporters.
Check out video of the fight below:
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Wednesday's game was expected to be the largest soccer game attendance this year, with 70,000 fans from all 50 states and nearly 60 countries, two-thirds of whom would travel more than 100 miles away, to attend.
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“This is the best game I've ever seen,” said fan Daniel Elias.
Whether you were rooting for Colombia or Uruguay, the atmosphere at Bank of America Stadium was second to none.
“It was a once in a lifetime thing,” Arias said.
Unfortunately, the fight turned energy into chaos.
“When I saw the players running I thought this is going to be bad,” fan Jorge Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez was in the stands and captured the brawl on video.
He said the fight appeared to have started with an argument between a fan and the family of a Uruguayan player.
The football federation that oversees the match released a statement in Spanish that translated in part as follows: “La Conmebol strongly condemns any acts of violence. It further states that our actions are based on the conviction that football connects and unites us through its positive values.”
Gonzalez said he hopes players' families are better protected in the future and that fans continue to be respectful.
“I saw Colombian fans start crying when their national anthem was played,” he said, “so we should look for more of those moments instead of drinking a little too much and having a total mess.”
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department was fully deployed to the incident and officers were on scene to break up the fight.
No arrests have been made in connection to the brawl, according to CMPD.
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