Feyenoord wins twice halted Dutch Cup final

Brazilian Igor Paixao scored a second-half winner for 10-man Feyenoord as it edged NEC Nijmegen 1-0 on Sunday to win the Dutch Cup in a game that had to be halted twice.

Paixao’s 59th-minute effort went in off the upright at the end of a sweeping move from Feyenoord, which finished the game with 10 men after teenager Yankuba Minteh was sent off in the 72nd minute, after receiving two cautions in as many minutes.

The match at Rotterdam’s De Kuip was halted twice after fireworks were set off and a giant banner caught fire, causing extensive smoke.

The banner fell into the moat around the stadium and was extinguished by firefighters with no apparent danger to spectators.

The players were taken off the field with 55 minutes played in the game, spending time in the changing room before the match resumed, with the goal following shortly after.

NEC had a first-half effort ruled out for offside, as did Feyenoord in the second.

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Feyenoord were last cup winners in 2018 while NEC have yet to lift the trophy. It has been cup runners-up five times.

In the first half, NEC supporters were the brief cause of the short interruption after setting off large amounts of fireworks. Referee Serdar Gozubuyuk stopped the game for two minutes.

Dutch football has been plagued by hooliganism in the stands over the years and the country’s football association brought in a ruling last year that all matches should be stopped immediately if a player or match official is hit by an object from the crowd.

They also decided that if an object is thrown from the terraces but misses, play will be temporarily stopped with the players sent to the dressing rooms. If it happens a second time, the match is immediately stopped.

Under the new guidelines, there have been several games either abandoned and resumed again behind closed doors where players were temporarily taken off the field.