The tragedy occurred on Saturday night in the city of Malang when Arema FC supporters at the Kanjuruhan stadium stormed the pitch after their team lost 3-2 to the visiting team and bitter rivals, Persebaya Surabaya.
The match was between teams known for fanatic supporters, so the police only allowed tickets to be sold to the home side Arema, an Indonesian journalist told HT over the phone on Sunday.
"Because of that police did not allow tickets to be sold to away fans of Persebaya for the game," said award-winning Indonesian journalist Faisal Assegaf. He added that Arema supporters invaded the pitch and tried to attack the visiting team and staff.
Police officials, who described the unrest as "riots", said they tried to force fans to return to the stands and fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse agitated home supporters.
The stadium, which holds 42,000 people, was sold out for the night. Police officials said that around 3,000 people stormed the pitch.
"It had gotten anarchic. They started attacking officers, they damaged cars," East Java region's police chief Nico Afinta told reporters, adding that the crush occurred when fans fled for an exit gate.
Many of the victims were trampled or choked to death, according to the police.
In total, 125 people died, East Java deputy governor Emil Dardak told broadcaster Metro TV on Sunday evening, significantly lowering officials' earlier death toll of 174 because of double counting. An East Java police spokesperson said 323 people were injured, up from the initial count of 180.
"Some names were recorded twice because they had been referred to another hospital and were written down again," he said, citing data collected by local police from 10 hospitals.
Survivors described panicking spectators in a packed crowd as tear gas rained down on them.
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