Fifa acts to prevent more disasters

Fifa is pressing for new stadium procedures

Football's world governing body is set to introduce a series of measures to prevent a repetition of recent stadium disasters in Africa.

Fifa is to hammer out a comprehensive list of security requirements, according to president Sepp Blatter.

"Every stadium must have a rescue plan anticipating all possibilities to ensure safety and security of all," Blatter said as he opened a football centre in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo.

He was speaking six days after 126 supporters died at a match in Ghana.

The disaster which followed fatal incidents at stadia in South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Ivory Coast earlier this year.

Blatter said the security council of Fifa would be holding an extraordinary meeting in Buenos Aires in July to decide on the measures.

The tragedy in Ghana came after a stampede at the Accra Sports Stadium at the end of a local league game between arch-rivals Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Ashanti Kotoko.

It started after police repeatedly fired tear gas shells to quell rioting supporters of the losing side, Kumasi Ashanti Kotoko.