Very dense document of 151 pages, excluding appendices, the investigation report of the independent panel of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), including The world took notice, sheds a harsh light on the serious “failures” from the continental body and the French authorities, on May 28, 2022, during the Champions League final at the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis, between Liverpool and Real Madrid.
The report pins ” The approach » of the French police “which was based inappropriately on faulty assumptions that the supporters of Liverpool FC posed a significant threat to public order. This despite good information and intelligence from UEFA, [sa filiale événementielle] UEFA Events SA, clubs and Merseyside National Police [le comté de Liverpool] and Spain, who indicated that there had been no significant problems of football-related violence involving supporters of either of the finalist clubs in recent years”.
” Bottleneck “inappropriate use of tear gas and pepper spray by French police “on supporters who tried to enter with valid tickets”supporters of both sides unprotected and targeted by criminals ” premises “… The rapporteurs describe, with supporting evidence, the excesses from which many spectators have suffered.
“Trauma”
Their conclusions, which are based among other things on 700 letters selected by the panel out of 8,500 written contributions sent to it, were applauded by the supporters’ representatives.
Those of Liverpool, cleared by the report, were notably outraged at having been accused by UEFA, the Ministry of the Interior and the Paris Police Headquarters of being at the origin of these excesses. They thank UEFA for being “Strategically excluded from the discourse of the French authorities” on the alleged “massive and industrial fraud » related to ticketing. Allegations swept away, figures in support, by the independent panel of UEFA.
“Many fans who attended the Champions League final in Paris – whether young, old or disabled – remain traumatized by the events they experienced there, says Joe Blott, chairman of Spirit of Shankly, official union for Liverpool FC members. We also know that trauma has been triggered in some supporters who have also witnessed, survived, lost loved ones or witnessed the tragic events of Hillsborough and who are even more traumatized by the story of the fault peddled for thirty years and inexcusably continued after Paris. » In 1989, at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, UK, a massive stampede left 97 people dead. The supporters were long accused of having caused the disaster, before, in 2016, the police were held responsible.
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