Hard blow for UEFA. The “primary responsibility” of the organization in the malfunctions, the police and their “misconceptions” about English supporters are pointed out … The security fiasco of the 2022 Champions League final at the Stade de France gave birth this Monday to a vitriolic report, following an independent investigation.
The European body, organizer of the final of the queen event of the old continent, “bears the primary responsibility for the failures which almost led to disaster” last May at the Stade de France, concluded on Monday a group of experts in his report, to the point that UEFA reiterated its apologies in the process.
The police headquarters also implicated
Endless waiting, supporters and families sprayed with tear gas or victims of robbery… The law enforcement system during this Champions League final had given rise to scenes of chaos in Saint-Denis on May 28, 2022, provoking a lively controversy in France and England.
The report also pinpoints the Prefecture of Police and the French Football Federation (FFF), to which UEFA had delegated certain organizational aspects after the withdrawal of the match in Saint Petersburg, due to the Russian invasion of the city. Ukraine, and its urgent reattribution to France.
“Even if it were reasonable to delegate security issues to others, primarily the FFF and to refer to (…) the Prefecture of Police for matters of maintaining order, it does not follow that UEFA be absolved of its responsibility. UEFA played a central role in the organization of the event and they should have monitored, supervised and contributed to the security measures,” argue the experts.
UEFA reiterates its apologies
“The other stakeholders committed shortcomings which contributed (to the incidents) but UEFA was in charge” during this Liverpool-Real Madrid final, they insist, criticizing the insufficient coordination between all the stakeholders. The European confederation immediately reiterated its “apologies” to the supporters, promising to take into account the numerous recommendations made by the experts and to introduce “the appropriate changes”.
“On behalf of UEFA, I would like to sincerely apologize once again to all those involved in the incidents,” said UEFA general secretary Theodore Theodoridis, quoted in a statement. “In particular, I would like to apologize to the Liverpool supporters for what they have been through,” he added.
The FFF is criticized by experts for its “key role” in the organization of the event, as the host federation. The report mentions “communication failures” in connection with the Prefecture of Police on the issue of transport, which quickly caused bottlenecks on the arrival of supporters. “These flaws should not have occurred. And when they were detected, the FFF should have made them a priority, ”point out the experts.
The use of tear gas criticized
The independent report finally castigates the poor reaction of the French security forces, arguing that the police’s use of tear gas and pepper spray had “no place in a football party”.
Experts in the report, led by Portugal’s former education, youth and sports minister, Tiago Brandao Rodrigues, said they were “flabbergasted” that the match’s policing pattern may have been influenced by the image of Liverpool supporters assimilated to hooligans, an “inexplicable misconception”.
“The security approach (…) was based, inappropriately, on the assumption that Liverpool supporters could pose a significant threat to public order,” they further note. Contacted by AFP, the Ministry of the Interior did not comment.
The Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin had initially incriminated the British supporters with the many falsified tickets according to him, before the prefect Didier Lallement admitted to having “perhaps been mistaken” on their number, recognizing a “failure”.
Independent experts commissioned by UEFA for their part concluded on Monday that there was “no evidence of an abnormally large number of fans without tickets or with invalid tickets”, castigating the figures of the authorities, “falsely inflated exaggerated”, and suggesting that this exaggeration may have been intended to “deflect responsibility for operational failures”.
A government report, for its part, had also pointed to police and organizational dysfunctions, at the end of this episode which damaged the image of France in the run-up to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
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