Football Fans in Brazil Behead Referee after He Stabs Player to Death During Match

RIOTING football fans BEHEADED a referee after he stabbed a player to death during an amateur match in Brazil.

Violence broke out during a game in the northern town of Pio XII on June 30 after ref Octavio da Silva, 20, red-carded 30-year-old Josenir dos Santos Abreu.

When the player refused to leave the pitch, the pair began fighting and da Silva pulled out a knife and stabbed dos Santos Abreu. After discovering the player had died in an ambulance on the way to hospital, spectators stormed the pitch.

Stabbed ... dos Santos Abreu died on the way to the hospital

According to a police report they then "stoned the referee to death and quartered his body".

Gruesome video footage taken at the scene shows da Silva's legs severed at the knees and his head mounted on a wooden spike in the middle of the pitch.

Police have arrested 27-year-old man Luiz Moraes de Souza in connection with the killing. He has admitted assaulting the referee but denied murdering him.

Officers are continuing to investigate other suspects.