Police arrest young fan after former PSV and Newcastle player is punched in Eredivisie game

Police arrested a young male on Sunday after Groningen defender Jetro Willems was punched by a fan of his own team during an Eredivisie derby against Heerenveen.

Former PSV and Newcastle United player Willems was attempting to calm the home supporters at pitchside as tensions ran high when he was attacked, with the shocking incident caught by TV cameras.

Groningen were trailing 2-0 at the time, going into the closing stages, and the game was briefly paused as referee Serdar Gozubuyuk took the players off the field.

They later returned to complete the match, with no further goals scored.

The local police force, Politie Groningen, announced on Twitter: “A minor-age boy has just been arrested in #Groningen on suspicion of beating a @fcgroningen player during the match in the Euroborg [stadium] this afternoon.

“Another man was also arrested during that match, also on suspicion of assault. Both arrested suspects have been transferred to the police station and will be interrogated there.”

Zojuist is in #Groningen een minderjarige jongen aangehouden op verdenking van het slaan van een speler van @fcgroningen tijdens de wedstrijd in de Euroborg vanmiddag. Tijdens die wedstrijd is ook een andere man aangehouden, eveneens op verdenking van mishandeling.

— Politie Groningen (@POL_Groningen) March 19, 2023