A group of AZ Alkmaar fans initiated an attack on an area where friends and family of West Ham players were present, following the conclusion of the teams' Europa Conference League semi-final second leg.
In response to the situation, players including Michail Antonio and Said Benrahma attempted to intervene and diffuse the clashes.
Alistair Bruce-Ball, a BBC commentator who was present at the stadium, witnessed punches being thrown by the AZ fans.
“These are awful scenes,” he said. “Some fans clad in dark coats and hoods up came racing down in front of the lower tier of the stand to voice their dissatisfaction, and there is trouble to our right-hand side.
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“The concern here is I think the West Ham family members and friends are in that section. Those are very, very unpleasant scenes.
“The West Ham players are being held back. I can see in the distance punches being thrown.”
West Ham manager David Moyes, whose 87-year-old father was reportedly among the crowd, said his players were angered by what had happened in the AFAS Stadion.
“We’ll need to wait for the dust to settle to see what it is but the biggest problem is that is the area where the players have all their families in,” he said.
“That is where the problem came, and a lot of players were getting angry because they couldn’t get to see if they were OK.
“What I don’t want to do in any way is blight our night. It wasn’t West Ham supporters looking for trouble.
“Was I worried? Yeah, my family were there and I had friends in that section. You’re hoping they would try to get themselves away from it.
“Security wanted to take me inside, but I had to make sure my players weren’t involved.”
Expressing his concern, West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola commented, "It's disheartening to witness such incidents when families or friends come to the stadium. We want them to enjoy the event, and we also want to share that enjoyment with them. Our main worry was for their well-being."
West Ham secured their spot in their first major European final since 1976 by triumphing over their Dutch opponents with a 1-0 victory in the second leg. With a comprehensive aggregate score of 3-1, West Ham celebrated their well-deserved advancement.
In the previous week's first leg at London Stadium, an unfortunate confrontation occurred between family members of AZ players and West Ham fans, adding tension to the atmosphere.
AZ boss Pascal Jansen said: “What happened last week was very unfortunate and then you get the same feeling as what happened tonight.
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