Sunday’s massive Copa América soccer final in Miami Gardens, Florida, between Colombia and defending champions Argentina, was supposed to be a celebration of the beautiful game. Instead, a cascade of security breaches and crowd control issues plunged the event into chaos. It’s a miracle no one was seriously hurt or killed. This major security breach needs to be thoroughly investigated, and its lessons should be incorporated into every 2026 World Cup security manual.
Security Breach Causes Chaos
Thousands of fans arrived early at Hard Rock Stadium, many of them hours before the gates were set to open. As the entrances began to fill, fans started jumping over railings and running past guards into the stadium. To stop the breach, security reclosed all the gates, leaving many pressed against each other in the dangerous heat.
News and social media outlets showed images of children crying and security officers carrying attendees who had fainted. One of the players was reportedly forced to leave his team to check on his mother's well-being. Verified videos even showed fans attempting to crawl into vents to break into the stadium.
The match started more than an hour late and under dangerously out-of-control conditions. The stadium swelled far beyond capacity, forcing many with legitimate tickets to watch the entire event from the overcrowded concourse. Due to the chaos, some ticketholders couldn’t even enter the stadium.
The tournament’s security issues had already been in the spotlight the week before when players charged into the crowd to protect their loved ones from abusive fans, resulting in a brawl. With venues in the United States, Mexico and Canada set to host the 2026 World Cup, including Hard Rock Stadium, security lapses like those at this year’s Copa América must be avoided.
Preventing Stadium Security Breakdowns
We have the utmost respect for stadium security officials and the Miami-Dade Police Department. However, security breakdowns like this should never happen, especially at major events. Given the dangerous conditions and property damages thousands of unruly fans caused as they charged through entrance gates and over stadium walls, stadium officials, Miami-Dade Police, and Copa América officials should have cancelled the match to protect fans, security, and police officers amid the chaos.
More fundamentally, Sunday’s breakdown was foreseeable and could’ve been avoided with a thorough assessment of Argentinian and Colombian fan behaviors and more robust security measures. For example, officials could have established an extended perimeter 300 to 600 feet from the stadium wall, protected with fencing, security staff, police, canine teams, platform towers and vehicles. Venues like Hard Rock Stadium can easily leverage parking lots and interior roadways to arrange such a perimeter.
Ticket takers should be staged at this extended entry point, and only ticketed fans should be allowed past. To overcome security and policing personnel shortages, officials should embed temporary 8-to-10-foot anti-climb and anti-ram fencing in vulnerable locations into the extended perimeter.
Organizers should also ensure enough bilingual security and law enforcement personnel are staged in the outer perimeter to vocalize fan conduct rules, reinforce security screening procedures and assist families needing medical or other attention.
Stadium Security Assessments Matter
Moving forward, the 16 stadiums set to host the 2026 World Cup games in the United States, Mexico and Canada must conduct thorough risk assessments to appropriately identify the greatest threats and vulnerabilities and calculate the impacts of worst-case scenarios like those seen at the Copa América final.
Risk assessments are valuable intelligence-gathering tools for stadiums. They identify current and evolving threats and inform key decision-makers on how to make the right security investments to prevent or mitigate unlawful events. When done correctly, risk assessments can help officials manage even the most challenging crowd-control circumstances calmly and systematically, with multiple layers of solutions.
Moreover, a stadium-specific risk assessment report will inform officials of the most critical vulnerabilities and help them overcome or diminish the gaps with suitable staffing deployments, security technology assets, physical barriers, mutual aid agreements, and updated security and emergency management plans.
By thoroughly establishing the greatest risks and how to proactively address them, officials overseeing large-venue events can avoid disastrous breakdowns similar to the one we witnessed at Hard Rock Stadium this past weekend.