Rio de Janeiro: A Brazilian sports tribunal has begun investigating a wild brawl in a second-division state league match that ended with 12 red cards.

Votuporanguense was awarded a 2-1 victory over Fernandopolis after the match was abandoned by referee Marcio Henrique de Gois.

The chaos began when the winning team's striker was brought down by Fernandopolis' goalkeeper with just three minutes remaining in the match, Xinhua reported.

The keeper was shown a straight red card by the referee, sparking fury from both sides with flying kicks and punches traded by almost every player on the pitch.

One Fernandopolis player suffered a suspected broken arm and vowed to press police charges.

The Sao Paulo football federation issued a statement Monday night saying the matter was under investigation with a hearing scheduled by the state's sports justice tribunal next Monday.

Votuporanguense football director Valter Pereira did not rule out taking action against his club's own players.

"I'm going to watch a replay of the incident and decide what to do," Pereira said.

"But you can be sure that we are going to take action." (IANS)