Stadiums are an important part of the entertainment and sporting cultures of communities around the world, but the combination of outdated infrastructure with poor safety planning, large numbers of people gathering within a confined space, and the high frequency of such events have led to a number of significant disasters in the past.

This is a descriptive analysis of stadium disasters occurring between 1901-2021 which may provide useful insight for event safety personnel and disaster medicine specialists to better prevent and mitigate the effects of potential future stadium disasters.

Data was collected using a retrospective database search of the Emergency Events Database (EM-DATS) for all stadium-related accidental disasters occurring between January 1, 1901-July 30, 2022. A disaster is defined by CRED in its glossary as “technological accidents of an industrial nature, or involving industrial buildings”. All categories and definitions are predetermined by the EM-DATS as per their glossary.

The May 24, 1964 Estadio Nacional disaster in Lima, Peru was the worst (in terms of deaths) to date with 350 deaths. This is followed by the 1982 Luzhniki Stadium disaster in Moscow, Russia (340 deaths), the 2001 Accra Sport Stadium disaster in Ghana (123 deaths), and the 1985 Hillsborough Stadium disaster in Sheffield, England (96 deaths) as well as 14 of the 40 stadium disasters occurred in Africa, 11 in Europe, 10 in the Americas, and five in Asia.

A total of 40 stadium disasters were included, leading to 2,025 deaths and 6,640 injuries. This equated to an average of 50.6 deaths and 166.0 injuries per disaster. Given the potential risk of mass casualty events, stadiums should incorporate disaster medicine education, training, and expertise in their emergency medical plans.