THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRUSSELS, Belgium — Belgium marked the 25th anniversary of the Heysel stadium tragedy with a short ceremony Saturday to commemorate the 39 football fans who died trying to flee a rush by hooligans at the 1985 European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus.
A memorial service was to be followed by the laying of wreaths at a monument to the victims — most of them Italian Juventus fans — who died when a stadium wall collapsed under the pressure of the surging crowd.
Fourteen Liverpool fans were convicted of manslaughter for causing the disaster and English clubs were excluded from UEFA matches for five years — with Liverpool shut out one year longer.
At a similar ceremony in Turin, Italy, UEFA president Michel Platini said he will use his position to ensure that stadium safety continues to improve.
"In that long ago summer of 1985 I was still a player and not yet 30," Platini said. "Today I am no longer that player from May 29, 1985, I am president of UEFA and I cannot allow such a thing to happen again.
"Security in stadiums and the fight against hooliganism is my most important job."
Platini scored the only goal of the game to give Juventus its first European Cup.
"They were people who came to watch football and never returned," Platini said. "We thought it was a normal match, but it wasn’t. The match didn’t last 90 minutes, it is still going on in our lives and will always do so."
Liverpool managing director Christian Purslow represented the English club at the ceremony three days after Liverpool unveiled a memorial plaque at Anfield.
Bells at Liverpool Town Hall are scheduled to ring out 39 times — one for each of the victims — later Saturday at around the time the tragedy took place.
"We as a city know more than most about football-related tragedy and the scale of human suffering," Mayor Hazel Williams said in a reference to the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans who were crushed to death at the 1989 FA Cup semifinal against Nottingham Forest at Sheffield’s Hillsborough Stadium.
"Regardless of how much time passes, we will never forget those people who didn’t return to their families. Today we would like to send a message to the people of Turin and the wider football community that Liverpool acknowledges your loss."