Estadio Nacional disaster

The Estadio Nacional disaster took place on 24 May 1964 at the Estadio Nacional, Lima, Peru, during a match between Peru and Argentina. An unpopular decision by the referee outraged the Peruvian fans, who invaded the pitch. Police fired tear gas into the crowd, causing a mass exodus. Many fans were cruched against the steel shutters that led down to the street. The incident is considered the worst disaster in the history of association football.

The game, in the qualifying round for the Tokyo Olympics' football tournament, was seen as vital for Peru, then holding the second qualifying place in the CONMEBOL table, who would face a tough match against Brazil in their final game. The match attracted a crowd of 53,000 to the stadium.

With Argentina leading 1–0 and six minutes of normal time remaining, a would-be equalising goal by Peru was disallowed by Uruguayan referee Ángel Eduardo Pazos. This decision infuriated the home fans and triggered a pitch invasion. Peruvian police fired tear gas canisters into the northern grandstand to prevent further fans from invading the field of play. This caused panic and an attempt at a mass exodus to avoid the gas.

Rather than standard gates, the stadium had solid corrugated steel shutters at the bottom of tunnels that connected the street level, via several flights of steps, to the seating areas above. These shutters were closed as they normally were at every game. Panicked spectators moving down the enclosed stairways pressed those in the lead against the closed shutters, but this was not visible to the crowd pushing down the stairwells from behind. The shutters finally burst outward as a result of pressure from the crush of bodies inside. All of those that died were killed in the stairwells down to the street level, most from internal haemorrhaging or asphyxia. No one who stayed inside the stadium died. In the street, the crowd caused destruction to private property around the stadium.

The official death toll is 328, but this may be an underestimate since deaths by gunshot were not counted in the official estimates. Even this total is higher than those killed in the Hillsborough disaster, the Bradford fire, the Heysel disaster, the 1971 Ibrox disaster, the 1902 Ibrox disaster, and the Burnden Park disaster combined.