Napoli punished after weekend tragedy

The Italian Football League has ordered Napoli to play their next five home games behind closed doors after violence at the weekend…

The Italian Football League has ordered Napoli to play their next five home games behind closed doors after violence at the weekend in Avellino in which one died and more than 30 police were injured.

None of the matches are allowed be played at their San Paolo stadium.

The suspension will begin from their September 27th Serie B meeting with Ascoli and will end on November 9th when Salernitana visit, the League said in a statement on its official website on Wednesday.

It is not yet clear where Napoli will play these matches an no immediate comment from Napoli was available.

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Napoli supporter Sergio Ercolano died on Monday as a result of injuries sustained when he fell more than 30 feet after scaling the outer wall at Avellino's Partenio stadium.

As medics arrived to help him, hundreds of Napoli fans invaded the pitch and fought with police in the worst outbreak of violence seen in Italian football in recent years. The match was eventually abandoned.

A separate judgment by the League - which governs clubs in Italy's top two divisions - is expected by Italian media to award Avellino an automatic 3-0 win.

Last season, matches involving Serie A sides Como and Torino had to be abandoned because of crowd trouble.

Torino received a similar five-match stadium ban after their fans rioted during a match against AC Milan in February this year.

In Serie B, supporters attacked Napoli captain Francesco Baldini in his car last November and Messina goalkeeper Emanuele Manitta was punched unconscious by a fan during a match against Cagliari the same month.