Franco Nieto the 33-year-old captain of Tiro Federal in the Argentina soccer league was attacked and killed after he was struck in the head by a trio of fans after his club’s match with rivals Chacarita Juniors in Aimogasta, Argentina.
The match became rough and physical with fifteen minutes left in the game and the referees finally had to call the match after sending off eight different players. According to Neito’s cousin, Pablo Nieto, three fans of Chacarita swarmed Nieto as he was walking to his car with his wife and one-month-old daughter.
The hooligans kicked and punched Neito repeatedly and finally rendered the death blow when the struck Neito in the back of the head with a stone leaving him bleeding and unconscious. Neito was in a coma at a local north-west Argentina hospital and was operated on Tuesday by doctors. The prognosis was bleak for Nieto heading into Wednesday and he finally succumbed to his injuries late Wednesday night.
According to police, the three attackers had been taken into custody. Police chief Fabian Bordon said that the culprits were part of the soccer hooligans gang called the “Barras Bravas”. The Bravas are a notorious gang of radical supporters who run the streets in and around the stadiums.
Soccer related deaths have been on the rise in 2014 as over 15 people have died in violence-related incidents occurring in or around soccer matches. The NGO Salvemos el Futbol (Let’s Save Football) organization released a statement that deaths and violence at soccer games have tripled in 2014 alone.
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