After over an hour of play in Thursday's Allsvenska football match between IFK Göteborg and Öster at Gamla Ullevi, a man with a blue and white scarf entered the pitch from the stands and attacked one of the visiting team's players.
The home team has reported the incident to the police, reports Expressen.
A single individual makes an incredibly stupid decision and ruins it for a very large number of people, says IFK Göteborg's security chief Jonas Arlmark to the newspaper.
Arlmark further states that the man will "with all probability" be banned from the club and denied access.
The man who entered the pitch was taken into custody by security guards and subsequently by the police. Since Friday morning, he has been released, but still suspected of assault and breach of the peace, according to TV4's Fotbollskanalen.
Öster player Sebastian Starke Hedlund, who was subjected to the attack, was shaken afterwards.
"He's going to hit me"
My kids are watching at home and it's not fun, he said with a trembling voice in a TV interview with Max, which broadcast the match, and continued:
I turn around and see a person coming towards me. At first, I thought he would take a lap of honor on the pitch or hug me. But then I quickly look back and see that his arm is above me and I realize then that he's going to hit me.
After a longer match meeting and game interruption, the decision was made to continue the match. A decision that is disputed.
Criticism of resumed match
Starke Hedlund, who according to his own account did not get to ask if he wanted to continue playing, is critical of the fact that the match was not abandoned.
When I found out about it, I felt anger. I was really pissed off. I thought was to abandon the match, but I don't know what the rules are, he says.
Öster won the match 1-0 after an own goal a few minutes before the spectator scandal.
