The tragedy occurred prior to the contest between Motagua and Honduras Progreso at the 35,000-capacity national stadium in Tegucigalpa.

According to police, too many tickets had been sold for the match while it is also claimed a group of fans who tried to enter the venue forcefully were responsible for the stampede.

Montagua club President, Pedro Atala, laid the blame at the amount of fake tickets which had been purchased for the game.

The match was sold-out and Atala insisted the club had not oversold tickets.

A police investigation is now set to take place to determine the cause of the tragedy, which marred the season finale of the Honduran league.

"First and foremost, our deepest condolences to the people who died outside the stadium, due to selling of fake tickets and an increase in the number of fans that the police didn't expect," Atala told Honduran television.

"We want to make clear, that at no point was there overselling of tickets. 

"That is easy to prove.

"We are going to try and find the relatives of the victims to help them as best we can."

The game went ahead despite the incident, with Motagua emerging as 3-0 winners to clinch a 7-1 aggregate victory.

According to CNN, Atala later claimed security officials had said the match should be postponed as the venue in the Honduran capital had already reached its capacity.

"It is important to bear in mind that all the ticket sales are supervised, and in this case approved, by the national commission for sports facilities, which is an agency of the Honduras Government," a Motagua statement read.

"The club is helping in the investigation into what happened at the stadium, which was under police control - according to the rules - as always 48 hours before any sports event."