Families of West Ham players attacked by AZ fans

The emotions of celebrations of West Ham reaching a European final were soon replaced by shock and anger by a brawl in the Netherlands.

The celebration of West Ham United’s victory in the Europa Conference League semi-finals on Thursday turned into something more intense when AZ Alkmaar supporters attacked friends and family members of the squad at the end of the game.

It was a shocking scene as AZ supporters broke through the fence. They went straight for the West Ham contingent in a reserved section of the AFAS Stadium. West Ham players, like captain Declan Rice, even stepped in to try and protect their loved ones during the fight that erupted.

Thankfully, police and stewards quickly intervened to prevent further conflict. The situation calmed down within 10 minutes.

Incredible this, AZ Alkmaar fans storming into the section where the West Ham players families and friends are to attack them.

If this was an English club causing the trouble, they’d be banned from European football for years.pic.twitter.com/luMhzNwDK9

— Football Away Days (@FBAwayDays) May 18, 2023

‘We’ll need to wait for the dust to settle’

Speaking about the incident later on BT Sport, Hammers boss David Moyes said: “We’ll need to wait for the dust to settle to see what it is but the biggest problem is that is the area where the players have all their families in, friends and family.

“That is where the problem came and a lot of players were getting angry because they couldn’t get to see if they were OK. But look, I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and ask the officials what really happened.”

In last week’s first leg of the semi-final contest, family members of the AZ team were involved in a confrontation with the West Ham supporters in London.

The Hammers won that match 2-1 and collected another victory over AZ in the return fixture by a 1-0 scoreline, ensuring a 3-1 aggregate win.

As a result, West Ham have qualified for the Europa Conference League final. It will be their first European final since 1976. They will play Fiorentina in Prague on June 7 for the showpiece event.