- 2 months ago
Some moments in sports history are so devastating they leave the entire world in mourning. Join us as we count down the most tragic and shocking events to ever shake the sporting world to its core, from deadly stadium disasters and catastrophic plane crashes to senseless acts of violence and heartbreaking losses that changed their respective sports forever.
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00:00Ten years after the accident that killed eight of its players,
00:04Manchester United becomes the first English team to win the European Cup.
00:09Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:11Today we're looking at 30 tragic moments that shook the sporting world to its very core.
00:21Malice in the Palace.
00:23One of the most infamous nights in NBA history took place in 2004
00:27during a showdown between the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons.
00:36In the game's dying embers, a foul by Ron Artest set off a series of events that led to a
00:41full-on brawl.
00:42At first it was player-on-player, right up until the dismissed Artest had a drink thrown at him by
00:46a fan,
00:47causing the chaos to spill into the stands.
00:49As far as ugly moments are concerned, this was among the worst in basketball history.
00:53It all started with a foul.
00:55The game was understandably called off and Artest received an 86-game suspension,
00:59the longest ever handed out for an on-court incident.
01:02The attack on Monica Seles.
01:04The former world number one tennis star Monica Seles was on the receiving end
01:07of one of the most senseless acts of violence the sporting world has ever seen.
01:11I was in a tennis match when this happened.
01:14I was doing something that I love, and I never, ever expected something like this to happen.
01:20In the middle of a game against Magdalena Maliva, a crazed fan of Seles' rival Steffi Graf rushed onto
01:26the court and stabbed Seles in the back with a boning knife.
01:29Thankfully, the physical damage was not too severe, and she made a return to full health
01:32in a few weeks.
01:33However, the psychological impact it had on Seles was tremendous.
01:37She didn't return to competition for another two years, and although she did win another
01:40Grand Slam, her dominant career was thrown completely off track by this assault.
01:44I left this tournament in 1993 with unbelievable memories, and the hardest thing for me at the
01:53time that I couldn't play was not being able to defend my title here, and it's just great
01:57to be back.
01:58Wichita State University football team plane crash
02:01In 1970, one of two planes carrying the Wichita State University football team to a game
02:06in Utah crashed into a mountain killing 31 of the 37 people on board, a mixture of players
02:11and staff.
02:11A plane carrying players of the Wichita State football team, trainers, and guests of the
02:16program crashed into the mountainside on October 2, 1970.
02:21The plane flew into a box canyon and was unable to gain altitude, resulting in a direct collision.
02:25Pilot error and poor pre-flight planning were pointed to as the contributing factors, and
02:30the general consensus was that it was a tragedy that could have been avoided.
02:33An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board would later reveal that the crash
02:38was caused by the choice to take that scenic route, and the fact that the aircraft was
02:43more than 5,000 pounds overweight.
02:45To this day, it remains one of the most devastating aviation disasters involving a collegiate sports
02:50team in U.S. history.
02:52Blood on the ice.
02:53The inherent danger of ice hockey's use of bladed skates is something that can be easily
02:56forgotten.
02:57Or at least that's the case until something like Clint Malarchuk's injury happens.
03:01Clint Malarchuk played 338 games in the NHL, but he's remembered for one.
03:07In a collision near the goal crease, a player's skate blade accidentally slashed Malarchuk's
03:12neck, slicing his carotid artery and partially his jugular vein.
03:16Blood rapidly poured onto the ice in a scene witnessed by thousands in the arena and on
03:20television.
03:20He would have died were not for the quick actions of the team's trainer.
03:24The sight of such a gruesome accident was deeply disturbing for those in the arena, causing
03:28two onlookers to have heart attacks, 11 to faint and several to vomit.
03:31Thankfully, he survived and returned to the ice shortly after.
03:34Probably one of the most frightening things I've ever seen in doing hockey.
03:37I've been doing hockey for the past 30 years.
03:41Marc-Vivion Fouet's collapse.
03:43The world of football was well and truly rocked by the sudden collapse and death of Manchester
03:47City footballer Marc-Vivion Fouet in 2003.
03:50During a Confederations Cup matchup between his Cameroon side and Colombia, Fouet collapsed
03:55mid-game seemingly for no reason.
03:57But just after halftime, he collapsed in the middle of the pitch.
04:02When he fell over in the center circle, we didn't realize that it was something that
04:08important.
04:10We carried on playing.
04:11We thought it was some sort of fatigue that caused his collapse.
04:15Medical staff attempted to resuscitate him on the pitch before eventually bringing him
04:19to a facility where he was pronounced dead.
04:21He was 28 years old at the time.
04:23His death was later ruled to be due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and it led to renewed emphasis
04:28on cardiac screening for professional athletes.
04:31And once we'd lost him, we were completely without any strength to carry on.
04:35But as we thought about it, about what a competitor he was, about the desire he always
04:40had to win, we decided that we should play the final for him as a memorial to him.
04:45Max Baer's sucker punches Frankie Campbell.
04:47Few moments in fighting history display the dangers of sucker punching quite like Max Baer's
04:52showdown with Frankie Campbell.
04:53It was great rivalry with Max coming from the East Bay and Frankie from San Francisco.
04:57The fight was in the San Francisco ballpark and Frankie was holding his own for the early
05:02round.
05:03After Campbell seemingly dropped the future world champion to the canvas in round two, he
05:07turned his back on his rival expecting the 10 count.
05:10However, Baer rose back to his feet, pursued him and proceeded to land a huge right hand
05:14to his turned head, which sent him to the canvas.
05:16Campbell seemed fine at first, although he told his coach that he felt as though something
05:20had snapped in his head.
05:21Baer took back the bout's momentum, battering Campbell for a brutal late TKO.
05:25But the damage was done.
05:27Frankie slumped the canvas.
05:28He then collapsed and died shortly after, despite the best efforts of the doctors who
05:32tried to save him.
05:34Reggie Lewis' death.
05:35Boston Celtics player Reggie Lewis received what probably should have been a career-ending
05:39diagnosis of focal cardiomyopathy after collapsing during a playoff game in 1993.
05:44However, after getting his second opinion, he decided to return to practice ahead of the
05:481994 season.
05:49With this diagnosis and with what the doctors have said, that you can play now with total
05:53confidence that you'll be okay?
05:55Well, I'm really sure that I can.
05:57I think that's why it's taken so long for us to come up with a statement, because we
06:02wanted to be 100% sure that I will be able to go back and lead a normal life.
06:07In a tragic turn of events, he would collapse again during off-season practice, suffering a
06:11sudden cardiac death.
06:12He was 27 years old at the time, and the Celtics proceeded to retire his number 35 jersey
06:17in his honor.
06:18Lewis is remembered as one of the most promising players of his generation, whose career and
06:23life ended abruptly at his peak.
06:24Yeah, it's always sad when someone dies young, because there's a whole group of people that's
06:30going to miss out on him, miss out on the highlight clips and all the attention.
06:34And, you know, I imagine there's a whole bunch of kids, track athletes, that go to the Reggie
06:38Lewis Center and have no idea who Reggie Lewis is.
06:41And that's a shame.
06:42The murder of Andres Escobar.
06:43One false move from Colombian center-back Andres Escobar saw him score an own goal that pretty
06:48much sealed the disastrous 1994 World Cup collapse for his country.
06:54Days later, Escobar was shot and killed in a nightclub parking lot by Humberto Muñoz
06:58Castro, a driver and bodyguard to several cartel figures.
07:01It's widely believed the murder was linked to gambling syndicates who had lost money as
07:05a result of Colombia's failure.
07:06It caused a huge outcry of grief from the footballing world, doing major damage to the
07:11nation's reputation internationally, one of the darkest days in football history.
07:31The tragic crash of Jules Bianchi.
07:33The 2014 Japanese Grand Prix was the scene of the infamous crash involving 25-year-old
07:38French driver Jules Bianchi.
07:40Formula One lost a much-loved member of the paddock when Jules Bianchi passed away, nine
07:45months after his accident in the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.
07:49In heavy rain at Suzuka Circuit, Bianchi lost control of his car and collided with the recovery
07:54vehicle that was removing another crashed car.
07:56He sustained a severe, diffuse axonal brain injury and was placed in a medically induced coma.
08:01He would not wake from this coma and eventually he succumbed to his injuries and passed away
08:06nine months later.
08:07He will be much missed in the Formula One paddock.
08:10This was the first race-related death in Formula One since 1994's passing of the legendary
08:15Ayrton Senna.
08:16The death of Ray Chapman.
08:17Shortstop for the Cleveland Indians, Ray Chapman died on August 17, 1920 after being struck in
08:23the head by a pitch thrown by Carl Mays the previous day.
08:26Ray unfortunately was hit by a pitch that hit him in the left temple.
08:29At first, the impact was so loud that some had assumed it had hit his bat, but things
08:33took a dark turn when Chapman was seen to be bleeding from his ear.
08:36After losing consciousness, he would undergo emergency surgery that would ultimately fail.
08:40To this day, he remains the only player to ever die from injuries received during a Major
08:44League Baseball game.
08:45Decades after Chapman's tragedy, batting helmets enter the game.
08:50Batted balls are always replaced with clean new balls to be better seen by batters.
08:55The Chris Benoit double murder.
08:57There are a few stories in sporting culture that are as chilling as the story of Chris
09:01Benoit.
09:01In the ring, with the body of an Adonis, he was slamming opponents, being slammed, and
09:07putting on a show.
09:10Outside the ring, the former WWE World Wrestling Entertainment Champion was quietly spinning into
09:18depression.
09:18Once a highly respected and hard-working pro wrestler, he would write his name in the history
09:22books for the worst possible reason.
09:24In 2007, Benoit murdered his wife Nancy and their son before taking his own life in their
09:29Georgia home.
09:30Subsequent examination of his brain would show that he was suffering from extreme brain
09:33damage as a result of repeated head trauma.
09:35It was an incident that shone a spotlight on the risks of concussions in the wrestling business.
09:39It's too late for my son.
09:41It's too late for my daughter-in-law.
09:43It's too late for my grandson.
09:44The WWE responded by implementing better wellness checks before largely removing most appearances
09:50of Benoit from their historical programming.
09:52The death of Diogo Jota.
09:53The former Liverpool star Diogo Jota was driving in Spain with his brother and fellow footballer
09:58Andre Silva when his Lamborghini suffered a tire blowout while overtaking another vehicle.
10:03All of the evidence so far indicates that the driver of the crashed vehicle was Diogo Jota.
10:07Evidence seemed to suggest that Jota had been exceeding the speed limit by quite a large
10:11amount.
10:12This caused the car to veer off the road and eventually catch fire.
10:14Both brothers died at the scene of the crash, leading to a huge outpour of grief from all
10:19corners of the footballing world.
10:20Liverpool proceeded to retire the number 20 jersey at all levels within the club, a fitting
10:25tribute to an elite player at the peak of his powers.
10:28We will now observe a period of silence in memory of Diogo Jota, our forever 20, and his
10:36beloved brother, Andre Silva.
10:38Southern Airways Flight 932.
10:40Although traveling to games by plane was a rarity for the Marshall University football
10:44team, they opted not to drive to their game against East Carolina.
10:47It remains the nation's worst sports disaster ever.
10:51They were flying home from that matchup when the aircraft descended below minimum altitude
10:54in poor weather conditions and struck trees short of the runway.
10:58All 75 passengers were killed in the crash, including 37 of the players.
11:02To this day, it remains the deadliest accident to ever befall a U.S. sports team.
11:05People could not believe the fact that not only had Marshall put a team back on the field,
11:12they actually won the game.
11:13In a shocking coincidence, this would be the second major plane crash involving a college
11:17football team in that month.
11:18It joins the Wichita State crash as one of the darkest days in American sports history.
11:22The Andes Flight Disaster.
11:24The Uruguayan amateur rugby team was being flown to a game in Santiago, Chile, when a series
11:29of errors led to a fatal crash into the side of the Andes Mountains.
11:32I just remember the sound of the impact and the intense force of the impact.
11:38Of the 45 people on board, many died instantly.
11:40While others succumbed to injuries, avalanches, and extreme cold.
11:4416 ultimately survived after 72 days stranded in harsh alpine conditions.
11:49With no food available, survivors resorted to cannibalism, consuming the bodies of those
11:53who had died.
11:54A last gasp trek in search of help led two of the survivors to eventually get rescued.
11:58We start hearing the beautiful noise of the helicopters coming.
12:04And then there appears those two beautiful birds, as I used to say, birds of freedom.
12:11It remains one of the most extraordinary survival stories of its time.
12:15Bradford City Stadium Fire.
12:17No list of stadium disasters would be complete without a mention for the horrific events
12:21that took place in May of 1985 in Bradford.
12:24It was supposed to be a day of celebration, but turned into one of absolute horror.
12:29During a matchup between Bradford City and Lincoln City, a fire broke out in the stands,
12:33which led to many fans climbing over the barrier onto the pitch.
12:36The antiquated design and structure of the stadium saw the fire spread quickly, and the
12:40inadequate exits made escape difficult.
12:4256 people were killed in the chaos, and hundreds more were injured in the process, which led to
12:46it becoming a major turning point in English football safety standards.
12:49The authorities were looking at what happened at Bradford and responding accordingly to
12:55ensure, hopefully, to ensure that this sort of thing never happened again.
12:59The death of Owen Hart.
13:00Part of the allure of pro wrestling comes from the times when the line between fiction and
13:04reality is blurred.
13:05Last night in Kansas City, Missouri, with more than 18,000 people in the arena and a large
13:11worldwide pay-per-view audience, Hart was getting ready to make a spectacular entrance, similar
13:16to one he'd made before.
13:17But in 1999, when Owen Hart fell 78 feet after a harness malfunction at a Kansas City
13:22pay-per-view, things became far too real, far too quickly.
13:25All of a sudden, all gimmicks and acting went out the window as the WWE staff and some of
13:29the wrestlers themselves scrambled to try to save Hart's life.
13:32Unfortunately, the damage he sustained in the fall was too great, and he succumbed to
13:35his injuries shortly after.
13:37Unfortunate responsibility to let everyone know that Owen Hart has died.
13:44Owen Hart has tragically died from that accident here tonight.
13:48The show did continue on that night, but the effect of losing a superstar like him in the
13:53prime of his life never truly faded.
13:55The 1955 Le Monde disaster.
13:57Though it happened decades ago, the 1955 Le Monde disaster remains the most catastrophic
14:02accident in motor racing history.
14:04Driver Pierre Le Vague's car was involved in a crash that sent it flying into the air.
14:08Le Vague was killed instantly after being thrown from the vehicle, but debris from the
14:12car went flying towards the crowd of spectators.
14:1482 people were killed in the chaos, and between 120 and 180 were injured.
14:18This horrific accident caused many countries, including France, Switzerland, and Spain,
14:22to ban motorsports until greater levels of safety precautions had been implemented.
14:26A shocking day for the sport.
14:28Chapikens Plane Crash
14:29In 2016, the Brazilian football team Chapikens was left utterly devastated when a plane carrying
14:34the entire team crashed in Colombia.
14:36On the way to the biggest game in the club's history, the team is in good spirits.
14:41An oversight and pre-flight preparation had led the aircraft to run out of fuel in the air.
14:45Of the 77 people on board, only 6 survived, including just 3 of the club's players.
14:50Poor decision-making by the pilot in the middle of the ongoing crisis was cited as a major reason
14:55for the outcome.
14:5571 people died when the aircraft plunged into the Colombian mountainside.
15:00Brazil's O Globo newspaper reports the pilot declined two chances to refuel.
15:06When reports of the crash reached other football clubs internationally,
15:09there was a huge outpouring of grief and many attempts from other clubs to help Chapikens rebuild.
15:14A tragedy that will haunt this club for decades to come.
15:171985 Hazel Stadium Disaster
15:19This infamous night put a stain on English football that did not fully fade away for years.
15:24Liverpool met Juventus in the 1985 European Cup Final in Hazel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium.
15:29The match was marred by some disgusting fan violence in the stands.
15:32The first real troubles began by the fence between the Liverpool fans and Block Z.
15:37It was half past six.
15:39A combination of factors turned a potentially minor incident into a disaster.
15:44Tension had been brewing prior to the start of the match and eventually a group of Liverpool fans
15:48stormed an area full of Juve supporters.
15:50In their desperate attempts to flee, they forced the side perimeter wall to collapse,
15:54killing 39 people and injuring around 600.
15:57In total, 39 people died at the Hazel.
16:00It was such an ugly moment for the sport that all English clubs were banned from competing in UEFA events
16:05for five years.
16:06Liverpool were banned for one further year.
16:09Zambian National Football Team Air Disaster
16:11When the Zambian National Football Team were traveling by plane to a 1994 World Cup qualifying game with Senegal and
16:17Dakar,
16:18human error ended up costing them everything.
16:20On the 27th of April 1993,
16:23the plane carrying the Zambian National Football Team crashed off the coast of Gabon.
16:28All 30 passengers and crew perished.
16:3018 of them were international footballers, and with them went the hopes of a nation.
16:35The pilot noticed an engine fire while flying off the coast of Gabon.
16:39Official reports would later conclude that he was fatigued,
16:42and in his attempt to turn off the faulty engine, he chose the wrong one.
16:46This led the plane to crash 500 meters from land.
16:49All 30 people aboard, including 18 players, were killed on impact,
16:52ripping apart the Zambian football team in the process.
16:54If somebody had told me in 1993 if that would have happened, I would, you know, not believe them.
16:59But we had that faith, you know, that we'll come back one day and we'll be even much stronger.
17:06A week-long period of mourning was announced by the government shortly after.
17:10Dale Earnhardt Seniors crash.
17:11It's not often you see a legitimate superstar end up losing their life in the middle of competition.
17:15I think he worked hard on portraying himself as the tough guy.
17:19But if you looked in his eyes, the guy was a very kind man.
17:23But for the 49-year-old Dale Earnhardt Sr., that's exactly what happened.
17:27While competing in the final lap of the Daytona 500 in 2001,
17:30Earnhardt was involved in a three-car collision.
17:33After crashing into rival Ken Schrader,
17:35both cars slid off the track's asphalt into the infield grass.
17:38It would become very clear that something was wrong.
17:40Earnhardt had been killed instantly by the impact.
17:42Sustaining a fatal basilar skull fracture.
17:45This is undoubtedly one of the toughest announcements that I've ever personally had to make.
17:51But after the accident and turned forward to the end of the Daytona 500,
17:56we've lost Dale Earnhardt.
17:58With 17 million people tuning in live for this race,
18:01it represented a huge blow to the sport
18:02and a catalyst for much greater safety regulations moving forward.
18:06The Hillsborough Disaster.
18:08The sad fact about sporting events is that it sometimes takes a truly horrific incident
18:11to force teams and franchises to make much-needed changes.
18:15Liverpool supporters have been allocated the west end of the Hillsborough Stadium,
18:18so their route will keep them away from Nottingham Forest fans arriving from the south.
18:24This also means the Liverpool supporters will all have to pass through one entrance,
18:28Leppings Lane.
18:29And for Liverpool Football Club,
18:31there were some real oversights in areas of crowd control and safety precautions.
18:34When overcrowding in the stands during Liverpool's FA Cup semi-final clash with Nottingham Forest
18:39led to a deadly crush,
18:41the result was brutal.
18:4297 fans were killed and hundreds more were injured.
18:45Though some blamed unruly fan behavior at first,
18:47it became clear the regulations needed to change for all football teams,
18:51and thankfully they did.
18:52The victims' families continued to fight for justice,
18:54with them voicing their disgust at how little priority was placed on general fan safety
18:58prior to the disaster.
18:59And at the heart of it, of course,
19:01are the 96 people who went to a football match
19:04thinking they were just going for a great family day out,
19:08and they never came home.
19:09The Lokomotiv Yaroslavl air disaster.
19:12September 7, 2011 marked one of the darkest days in the history of international hockey,
19:16when a plane carrying the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team
19:20crashed while taking off for a flight to Minsk, Belarus.
19:23Moments after takeoff,
19:24the Yak-42 slammed into this Russian riverbank,
19:27killing 43 people.
19:29The team were being transported to their first game of the KHL season,
19:32when the pilot lost control of his vehicle and crashed after failing to take off.
19:36Of the 45 people on board, only the flight mechanic survived.
19:39As it turned out, the pilot was woefully underqualified to fly the plane,
19:42and had falsified documents in order to get permission.
19:45Of course, by the time the crash happened, there was no one left to prosecute.
19:49The Lima Football Riot.
19:50The infamous Lima Football Riot is not the only horrific sports disaster
19:54to befall the people of the Peruvian capital.
19:56More than 45,000 soccer-crazed fans are jammed into Peru's national stadium.
20:02The event this day?
20:03An Olympic-qualifying soccer match between Peru and their arch-rival, Argentina.
20:08Both world-class teams.
20:10The stage is set for a monumental clash of the titans.
20:15But the day will be remembered for a much more somber reason.
20:20We'd be remiss if we didn't also mention the 1987 plane crash that killed 42 people,
20:24including 37 players and staff members of the Alianza Lima Football Club.
20:29But in 1964, a tragedy of monstrous proportions befell the Estadio Nacional
20:34during a game between Peru and Argentina.
20:36After a referee decision infuriated the Peruvian support, they stormed the pitch,
20:40leading to a crush that had hundreds of people trapped.
20:42Panic spectators stampede to the exit, trampling over the fallen.
20:46Riot police were called in, and by the time the dust settled,
20:49328 people had lost their lives and over 500 were injured.
20:52One of the darkest days in football history.
20:55Iraq's extermination of athletes.
20:56Stadium disasters and accidental crashes are one thing,
20:59but the international slaying of athletes by a brutal dictator
21:02as punishment for poor performances?
21:04That's a different level of depravity.
21:06During Saddam Hussein's regime, the country's athletes and coaches
21:09faced harsh consequences such as being imprisoned, caned, or worse for losing.
21:13In 2007, the remains of 13 members of the country's taekwondo team
21:16were found in the desert after they had been kidnapped
21:18while en route to a training camp in Jordan.
21:20It was a barbaric display of violence
21:22and one that was widely condemned by the entire sporting world.
21:25Happy Valley Racecourse Fire
21:27Over 100 years ago, the Chinese racecourse Happy Valley
21:30witnessed one of the most destructive fires in sports arena history.
21:34Due to the fact that the stands were largely made of bamboo and wood,
21:37they were rapidly set ablaze after coming into contact with a fire
21:40caused by a nearby food stall.
21:42With improper precautions taken and inadequate tools to fight the fire,
21:45it eventually claimed the lives of 614 people.
21:48This was not just one of the most impactful disasters in sporting history,
21:51it remains one of the deadliest fires in modern Chinese history.
21:55Ayrton Senna's death
21:56The legendary Ayrton Senna had already voiced his concerns
21:59over the state of Formula 1 safety in 1994
22:01and had his doubts about taking to the Imola circuit in Italy on May 1st of that year.
22:15Just one day before, his fellow driver Roland Ratzenberger
22:18had become the first F1 fatality in 12 years,
22:21but Senna decided to race anyway.
22:22Unfortunately, his car collided with a concrete wall at a speed of over 200 kilometers per hour,
22:27causing him to sustain severe injuries that could have all led to his death on their own.
22:31Though attempts were made to resuscitate him, they were futile.
22:33It's been a dreadful day, and the loss of Ayrton Senna is really tough to comprehend.
22:39This marked a major turning point for Formula 1,
22:41with increased emphasis placed on advanced crash barriers, cockpit protection, and medical protocols.
22:46Israeli team attack at the Munich Olympics
22:48At the 1972 Olympics in Munich,
22:50eight members of the Palestinian militant organization Black September
22:54attacked the Athletes' Village, killing two members of the Israeli Olympic team.
22:57The 1972 Munich Games became one of the darkest moments in Olympic history.
23:02They also took nine hostages.
23:04This understandably kicked off a major panic and a total overshadowing of the Munich Games.
23:08While several rescue attempts were attempted, they failed,
23:11and in the process, all nine hostages were executed.
23:14Five of the eight perpetrators were also killed in the chaos,
23:16but the damage was already done.
23:18The disorganization of the police and government response was widely criticized,
23:22but after a 34-hour suspension, the Games continued as scheduled.
23:25The German authorities were criticized for a botched rescue operation.
23:29The Superga Disaster
23:30In 1949, a disaster that shook Italian football to its very core took place.
23:35On May 4, 1949, a tragic air disaster robbed Italy of its greatest team.
23:40An Italian Airlines flight carrying the entire Torino football team
23:44crashed into the retaining wall at the rear side of the famous Basilica of Superga in Torre.
23:49A navigational error made by the pilot was brought about by terrible flying conditions
23:53as they made their descent.
23:54Instead of reaching the runway as planned,
23:56the aircraft crashed into the Basilica, killing everyone on board.
23:59Until that day, the catastrophe of that proportion had never happened.
24:03There was an outpour of support from every club in Italy,
24:06with some offering players to the struggling side free of charge.
24:09They even awarded an honorary Serie A title to Torino.
24:12But nothing could erase the foundational damage and trauma this accident caused.
24:16Munich Air Disaster
24:17It was the most infamous disaster in football history.
24:20The world-famous Manchester United and their iconic manager Matt Busby
24:24were returning from a European Cup matchup against Red Star Belgrade.
24:28Of the 44 who boarded the charter plane home, 23 died in the Munich disaster.
24:34Together with officials and journalists, eight players lost their lives.
24:38During their third attempt to take off from Munich-Rheim Airport in Munich,
24:42West Germany, the unthinkable happened.
24:44The plane skidded on the runway, crashing into the fence that surrounded the airport,
24:47leading to a fire that threatened to engulf everyone inside.
24:50Out of the 44 on board, 21 survived,
24:52but it was a moment that left the world's most famous football club completely ripped apart.
24:56Other clubs stepped up and offered players and money,
24:58but there was only so much that could be done.
25:00Decades later, Manchester United have still not forgotten this dark night in their history.
25:04But did we miss out on any sporting tragedies that deserved a mention?
25:08Let us know in the comments below.