Kanjuruhan Stadium Disaster (2022)
On the night of October 1, 2022, a football match in Malang Regency, East Java, turned into one of the deadliest stadium disasters in modern history. After home team Arema FC lost to rival Persebaya Surabaya, a pitch invasion and subsequent police tear gas response set off a fatal crush that killed 135 people, most of them asphyxiated while trying to flee through overcrowded exits. The tragedy at Kanjuruhan Stadium ranks among the worst disasters in the history of football worldwide, prompting national mourning, criminal investigations, and sweeping reforms to Indonesian stadium security policy.
The Match and the Riot
The disaster unfolded after Arema FC suffered a 3-2 home defeat to Persebaya Surabaya, a result that ended Arema's 23-year unbeaten home record against their fierce East Java rivals. The loss enraged sections of the home crowd, and an estimated 3,000 Arema supporters, known as Aremania, streamed onto the pitch at Kanjuruhan Stadium following the final whistle. Police reported that rioting fans confronted players and team officials, forcing security personnel to escort them to safety amid the chaos. As the confrontation escalated, supporters clashed directly with police and security forces stationed around the field. Officers, attempting to disperse the crowd and regain control of the stadium, made the fateful decision to fire tear gas canisters into the stands and onto the pitch, a tactic explicitly banned by FIFA safety regulations for use inside stadium seating areas. The chemical agent quickly spread through the packed venue, triggering widespread panic among thousands of spectators who had not been involved in the initial unrest. What began as a violent but contained pitch invasion rapidly transformed into a mass emergency affecting nearly the entire stadium crowd, setting the stage for the catastrophic crush that followed in the minutes afterward.
Did You Know?
The Kanjuruhan disaster's death toll of 135 makes it the second-deadliest stadium tragedy in football history, behind only the 1964 Estadio Nacional disaster in Peru — and both catastrophes were triggered by police tear gas fired into panicking crowds.
The Fatal Crush
As tear gas filled the stadium, panicked spectators rushed toward the exits in a desperate attempt to escape the choking fumes. Kanjuruhan Stadium, which held a capacity crowd that night, had exit gates that proved dangerously inadequate for the sudden mass movement of people. At one particular exit, the crush of bodies became so severe that many fans were unable to move or breathe, resulting in death by asphyxiation and compression. Survivors later described scenes of terror, with people trampled underfoot and others suffocating against locked or narrow gates that failed to open quickly enough to accommodate the surge. Emergency responders faced significant delays reaching victims due to the chaos and the lingering effects of the tear gas. The official death toll reached 135 people, including at least 43 children, with more than 500 others injured in the crush and its aftermath. Many victims were transported to nearby hospitals, some of which became overwhelmed by the scale of casualties arriving simultaneously. The disaster stood as the second-deadliest stadium tragedy in football history, surpassed only by the 1964 Estadio Nacional disaster in Lima, Peru, which killed over 300 people under similarly disputed circumstances involving police tear gas and crowd panic.
Aftermath and Reforms
The Kanjuruhan tragedy sparked immediate national outrage and grief across Indonesia, with President Joko Widodo ordering a thorough investigation and a temporary halt to all Liga 1 matches. Indonesian football authorities and police faced intense criticism for the use of tear gas, which FIFA guidelines strictly prohibit inside stadiums due to its well-documented risk of causing exactly the kind of stampede that occurred. An independent fact-finding team established by the government concluded that police mishandling of the crowd, combined with structurally inadequate and partially locked exit gates, bore primary responsibility for the scale of the deaths. Several police officers were subsequently charged, though trials and convictions drew criticism from victims' families and human rights groups for perceived leniency, with many key commanding officers receiving relatively light sentences or acquittals. FIFA president Gianni Infantino visited Indonesia in the disaster's aftermath, and the country undertook stadium safety reforms ahead of hosting the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Kanjuruhan Stadium itself was slated for renovation to meet international safety standards, including widened exits and revised capacity limits. The disaster remains a painful symbol of the dangers posed by inadequate crowd management and disproportionate security responses at sporting events, prompting renewed global attention to stadium safety protocols.