Heysel Stadium Disaster (Brussels, 1985)

Heysel Stadium’s wall collapse, which killed 39 Juventus fans, is the deadliest single-structure failure in European football history, occurring 10 minutes before the 1985 European Cup Final. Policing levels were 50% below UEFA’s minimum, contributing to the chaos that triggered the charge and collapse. This failure set a benchmark for inadequate infrastructure, outperformed only by historical tragedies like Hillsborough.