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Argentine FA suspends football in the country after assassination attempt

Argentine FA suspends football in the country after assassination attempt

Football matches were called off across the nation on Friday.

Rory O'Callaghan

Rory O'Callaghan

The Argentine Football Association (AFA) has suspended football in the country in the wake of the failed assassination attempt against vice president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

De Kirchner escaped unharmed after a gunman's weapon jammed during the assassination attempt on Thursday.

Argentina's former president was returning home from court in Buenos Aries, where she faces allegations of corruption. She denies the charges against her.

Argentinian vice president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was attacked on Thursday (Image: Alamy)
Argentinian vice president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was attacked on Thursday (Image: Alamy)

The gunman, who local media identified as a 35-year-old Brazilian man, was taken into custody after the incident.

The AFA announced on Thursday night after the attack that it was suspending football in the country on Friday.

"The Argentine Football Association expresses its strongest repudiation of what happened with Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner," the AFA said in a tweet.

"We call on society as a whole, warning that violence of any kind is never the solution."

Three matches had been due to take place in Argentina's First Division on Friday - Patronato vs. Union, Rosario Central vs. Talleres and Lanus vs. Tigre.

According to ESPN, a number of other games were also postponed, including in Argentina's third tier, the women's championship, and the reserve league.

Friday was also declared a national holiday by Argentine president Alberto Fernandez, who described the attempt on Fernandez de Kirchner's life was one of the "most serious" incidents since the country returned to democracy in 1983.

"We can disagree, we can have deep disagreements, but hate speech cannot take place because it breeds violence and there is no chance of violence coexisting with democracy," he said.

He added that the decision to declare Friday a national holiday was so that Argentines could "express themselves in defence of life, democracy and in solidarity with our vice president".

Police are now attempting to establish a motive for the attack on Fernandez de Kirchner, who was Argentina's president from 2007 to 2015.

Featured Image Credit: Alamy & Twitter: Lautaro Maislin

Topics: Football, Argentina

Rory O'Callaghan is Editorial Lead at SPORTbible. He has previously worked for Sky Sports News, MailOnline and Reach covering football, cricket, boxing and MMA. Tested daily as a Liverpool fan in a Manchester office.

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