LEAD: Ajax apologize after AZ walK out of cup match over fan incident

Dec 22, 2011, 10:45 GMT

Amsterdam - Ajax Amsterdam late Wednesday issued an apology and promised tough action against a supporter whose attack on the goalkeeper of visiting AZ Alkmaar during a cup match led to the game being abandoned.

'This is a terrible incident and we at Ajax regret very much. We are offering our sincere apologies. The supporter has been handed over to the police,' Ajax financial director Jeroen Slop said in a statement on the club website.

The fan ran onto the pitch in the 37th minute of the game in Amsterdam and kicked at AZ goalkeeper Esteban Alvarado. The Costa Rican keeper defended himself and kicked twice at the fan lying on the ground.

Match referee Bas Nijhuis sent Alvarado off which prompted the outraged AZ coach Gert Jan Verbeek to order his team off the pitch, with Ajax leading 1-0 at the time.

The AZ team did not return to play on because of safety concerns.

The abrupt end of the game prompted further trouble around the stadium, with police using water cannons against angry fans and arresting eight people.

Slop said the fan, a 19-year-old man, faced a life ban from the Ajax stadium. He said the man was under the influence of alcohol and that 'he attacked Alvarado because he disliked him.'

'We find this very bad and and that boy will feel it.'

While Nijhuis was quoted as saying he had to send Alvarado off for kicking the fan twice when he was lying on the ground, Ajax coach Frank de Boer sympathised with the goalkeeper.

'I saw that Esteban was attacked and defended himself. I don't know how I would have reacted but I can understand him with his South American temper,' said de Boer.

The fan faces criminal charges apart from Ajax sanctions, while the ruling football body KNVB has to decide from three options how to treat the game: declare Ajax 1-0 winners, complete the game or replay it.

The KNVB said on Thursday that it wants to rule on the issue swiftly after receiving the referee's report and hearing its prosecutor for professional football.