Pacaembu Stadium Crowd Incident — 20 August 1995
Football Disorder · Brazil · 1995

Pacaembu StadiumCrowd Incident

A violent confrontation after the Palmeiras v São Paulo junior final at Estádio do Pacaembu, involving pitch invasion, rival supporter disorder, improvised weapons, serious injuries and one later fatality.

Date20 August 1995
LocationSão Paulo, Brazil
Fatalities1 later death
Injuries102 best supported
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What happened

After the Palmeiras v São Paulo junior final, Palmeiras won with a golden goal. Supporters invaded the pitch and a violent fight between rival fans followed.

Sources describe fans using sticks, stones, pieces of iron and construction debris from works at the stadium. This was not a crowd crush. It was a football fan disorder and mass-violence incident.

The incident is widely referred to as the “Batalha Campal do Pacaembu.”

Estádio do Pacaembu

Location: Estádio do Pacaembu, São Paulo, São Paulo state, Brazil.

Incident type: football supporter disorder, pitch invasion and mass violence.

Fatality: Márcio Gasparin da Silva, a 16-year-old São Paulo supporter, was injured during the confrontation and died eight days later on 28 August 1995.

Review conflicts →

Reported scale

0
Fatality
0
Best-supported injuries
80 + 22
Fans + police officers injured
0
From incident to death

Incident timeline

20 August 1995 · Junior final
Palmeiras and São Paulo played the junior final at Estádio do Pacaembu.
Golden goal
Palmeiras won with a golden goal. Supporters then invaded the pitch.
Mass violence
Rival supporters fought on and around the pitch using sticks, stones, pieces of iron and construction debris from stadium works.
28 August 1995 · Fatality
Márcio Gasparin da Silva died at Hospital das Clínicas in São Paulo from injuries sustained during the confrontation.

Key factors

Fixture context
A Palmeiras v São Paulo junior final with rival supporter presence and high emotion after the winning goal.
🚧
Available missiles
Construction materials and debris from stadium works were reportedly used as weapons.
👥
Pitch invasion
The disorder escalated after supporters entered the pitch area following the result.
🚓
Police impact
Later reporting commonly breaks down the 102 injuries as 80 fans and 22 police officers.
⚠️ Classification noteThis incident should not be treated as a crowd crush. The source file classifies it as football fan disorder / mass violence.

Conflicting or unresolved points

The core event, fatality and broad injury scale are well supported. The main conflicts concern the exact injury number in some later sources and the sentence length reported for Adalberto Benedito dos Santos.

Disputed Detail
Injury count

Most stronger sources report 102 injured. Some later secondary sources give 101, 110 or “about 102.”

Best-supported figure

Folha and Revista Piauí report 102 injured, with later Folha reporting 80 fans and 22 police officers.

Other summaries

Some later summaries use slightly different totals, but these were not better supported in the source file.

Best-supported wording: 102 injured, commonly broken down as 80 fans and 22 police officers.

Disputed Detail
Sentence for Adalberto Benedito dos Santos

Sources conflict on the sentence length reported after conviction.

Contemporary court report

Folha’s 1998 report and UOL’s 2022 retrospective state 12 years.

Later reference

A later Folha article states 14 years for double-qualified homicide.

The contemporary court-reporting source supports 12 years. The later 14-year reference was not reconciled.

Date Handling
Incident date versus fatality date

The event occurred on 20 August 1995. The fatality occurred later.

Incident date

20 August 1995 — confrontation at Pacaembu.

Death date

28 August 1995 — Márcio Gasparin da Silva died eight days later.

For incident coding, use 20 August 1995 as the event date.

Open points

The source file flags these details as not verified from stronger primary material.

Medical cause
Exact official medical cause of death from a medical examiner or court document.
Police deployment
Exact number of police officers deployed at the start of the match.
Official records
Full official police report, court file or stadium-security report.
Injury mechanism
Whether every injury was caused by assault, falling, trampling or police intervention.

References

References listed in the uploaded incident file, presented as source cards for review.

01
Folha de S.Paulo · News
Morre torcedor do São Paulo vítima do conflito no Pacaembu
29 August 1995
Contemporary report stating that Márcio Gasparin da Silva, 16, died at Hospital das Clínicas in São Paulo after being injured in the Pacaembu conflict.
Visit Source →
02
Folha de S.Paulo · News
Polícia identifica `baderneiros’ e planeja arrastão nas torcidas
23 August 1995
Follow-up report stating that the fight between São Paulo and Palmeiras supporters left 102 injured, one seriously.
Visit Source →
03
Folha de S.Paulo · News
Casos mais graves ocorreram em 1994 e 1995
10 October 1997
Retrospective report describing fans using sticks and stones from stadium works; records 102 injured and the later death of Márcio Gasparin da Silva.
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04
Folha de S.Paulo · News
Torcedor é condenado a 12 anos de prisão
1 August 1998
Reports the conviction and 12-year sentence of Palmeiras supporter Adalberto Benedito dos Santos for the death of Márcio Gasparin da Silva.
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05
UOL Esporte · News
Em 1995, decisão na base entre Palmeiras x SP terminou em morte no Pacaembu
22 January 2022
Retrospective article covering the junior final, limited police presence, debris used as weapons, and the fatal attack.
Visit Source →
06
Folha de S.Paulo · News
Trinta anos após batalha no Pacaembu, torcidas seguem na mira da polícia em SP
19 August 2025
Thirty-year retrospective identifying the confrontation at Pacaembu on 20 August 1995 and the death of a 16-year-old supporter.
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07
Folha de S.Paulo · News
Volta de bandeiras com mastros aos estádios de SP pode influenciar a violência
15 October 2021
Recalls the incident with 80 fans and 22 police officers injured and notes that construction materials at Tobogã works were used.
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08
A Tarde · News
Tragédia do Pacaembu que chocou o Brasil em 1995 completa 20 anos
16 August 2015
Retrospective report describing the pitch invasion and fight after Palmeiras’ title-winning goal.
Visit Source →
09
Gazeta do Povo · News
Batalha que mudou a história das torcidas no Brasil completa 20 anos
16 August 2015
Retrospective report giving 102 injured and stating that Márcio Gasparin died eight days later from injuries received in the fight.
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10
Revista Piauí / UOL · Magazine
Torcida única é parte da “negação do outro”
31 May 2024
Feature on football-fan policy and violence, referring to the 1995 Pacaembu fight with 102 injured and the death of Márcio Gasparin da Silva.
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11
Working With Crowds · Website
1990–1999
Not stated
Crowd-incident chronology entry for the Pacaembu Stadium crowd incident, recording weapons, the fixture, and the fatality.
⚠️ Context source, not the strongest primary evidence
Visit Source →
12
Peleja · Website
O que foi a Batalha Campal do Pacaembu?
21 March 2026
Later explanatory article reporting 80 supporters and 22 police officers injured, plus the later death of Márcio Gasparin da Silva.
⚠️ Context source, not the strongest primary evidence
Visit Source →
13
Folha de S.Paulo / Almanaque · Website
Almanaque Folha — Futebol
Not stated
Archival summary noting the Supercopa de Juniores incident and the death eight days later.
⚠️ Context source, not the strongest primary evidence
Visit Source →
14
USP Journal Portal · Academic
Pain and suffering in football: analysis of football-related fatalities in Brazil
2019
Academic article providing broader context on football-related fatalities and violence in Brazil; the accessible excerpt did not provide detailed Pacaembu casualty facts.
⚠️ Context source, not the strongest primary evidence
Visit Source →

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