Russian soccer fans set a section of Lokomotiv Stadium on fire Sunday after a league match, resulting in 15 arrests and the destruction of 430 seats.
The game, between Champions League team Zenit St. Petersburg and league rivals FK Volga, ended in a 2-1 win for Zenit. After the final whistle, the traveling Zenit supporters celebrated the win by setting alight the lower level of the stands behind the goal using flares according to local news reports.
Flares and other incendiary devices are commonly smuggled into games by fans at Eastern European soccer matches. The fire quickly spread across the tier and local fire service were called in to douse the blaze.
Zenit has had a history of problems with their traveling support: in 2011, they made international headlines after a fan waved a banana at Anzhi’s Roberto Carlos and the club’s “ultras” have long been accused of violence and racist taunting.
