On March 29 this year before a CAF qualifier against Malawi, 22 fans died in a stampede trying to get into the stadium and another 150 were injured.
In its wake FIFA just issued measures that would ensure better crowd control reducing the seating capacity of Houphouët-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan by approximately half to about 20,000 spectators. They also introduced traffic and spectator cordons to filter access of fans to the stadium.
More punitive measures includes a CHF 50,000 fine for the Ivory Coast Football Association. The stadium would be allowed to resume seating its full complement of 35,000 spectators when FIFA was sufficiently convinced that these control measures were fully adhered to in each match.
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