UEFA deemed 'responsible' for Paris Champions League football final chaos

NEWS WIRES
Mon, 13 February 2023

© Thomas Coex, AFP

UEFA itself bears "primary responsibility" for failures which "almost led to disaster" at the 2022 Champions League final in Paris between Liverpool and Real Madrid, a report commissioned by the European football body said Monday.

The report also claimed the policing model was influenced by a view of Liverpool based on the deadly 1989 Hillsborough disaster on incorrect assumptions that the city's supporters were a threat to public order.

The report said that the panel "has concluded that UEFA, as event owner, bears primary responsibility for failures which almost led to disaster."

The panel also said it was astonished that the policing model was influenced by a view of Liverpool hooliganism based on Hillsborough.

"The safety, security and service model laid out in the Saint-Denis Convention was ignored in favour of a securitised approach," the report said.

Real Madrid's 1-0 win at the Stade de France on May 28 was overshadowed by events surrounding European football's showpiece event.

Kick-off was delayed by 37 minutes as fans struggled to access the stadium after being funnelled into overcrowded bottlenecks on approach.

Police then fired tear gas towards thousands of supporters locked behind metal fences on the perimeter to the stadium.

UEFA then tried to pin the blame on Liverpool fans arriving late despite thousands having been held for hours outside the stadium before kick-off.

The French authorities then claimed an "industrial scale fraud" of fake tickets was the problem.

(AFP)