UEFA – 23-06-2023 17:36
By Writing
Guest of honor at the European Football Fans Congress – European Football Fans Congress (EFFC), in English – which began on Thursday night, the 22nd, and runs until Sunday, the 25th of this month, at the Metropolitan University of Manchester (England), UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin acknowledged that “not everything was perfect” for Man’s fans. City and Inter Milan in the final of the 2022/23 edition of the Champions League, in Istanbul (Turkey), on the 10th.
But going back even further in time, to the sadly famous incidents that occurred in Paris in the 2021/22 Champions League final, between Real Madrid and Liverpool, the Slovenian made ‘mea culpa’ on behalf of the continental confederation that leads due to the failures in logistics , preparation and follow-up and assistance provided to the supporters in the game in which even the family of Jurgen Klopp, coach of the ‘Reds’, was caught in the confusion generated earlier, in the (prohibited) access to the stadium, as the German coach of Liverpool himself later revealed .
A report by an Independent Commission pointed out “serious failures of organization and security” in access, which should have been normal, for fans of the two teams to the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis, that night of May 28, 2022, which led to UEFA to improve some chapters in this field for the big games, like the Champions League final.
“I came here to apologize to you,” Ceferin told the audience. We’d love to erase the events of last year [2022] of our memories. But I remember that in 2033 everyone welcomed our decision to change the stage initially scheduled for the final, from Saint Petersburg [na Rússia, que a 24 de fevereiro invadiu a Ucrânia] to Paris. However, in the end, we all know what happened », he recalled.
«I know very well that good intentions are often not enough. We know that, we are very sorry», said the Slovenian to the members of Football Supporters Europe (FSE) and Football Supporters Association (FSA), hosts and organizers of the extended meeting.
Already at the meeting between ‘citizens’ and ‘nerazurri’, on the last 10th, in Istanbul, in the previous edition of the final of the race, Ceferin admitted minor lapses, and the will to quickly overcome them, after some fans had warned of problems in getting accommodation and also in transport to the Ataturk Stadium, in addition to the allegedly more filtered access to the interior of the enclosure, causing delay for many fans to sit in their seats. Which explained frowns and initially more distant reception to Ceferin in Manchester.
«Knowing the situations that some of you have recently experienced [há 13 dias, em Istambul, na final da Champions]I would understand if I had had a still cold reception tonight [de quinta-feira, dia 22]. At UEFA, we are well aware that not everything was perfect in Istanbul. And I am not, in saying this, trying to minimize the problems felt by supporters. I promise you that we will continue to work to improve», was the ‘promise’.
«Concretely, we want to maximize comfort in connections and transport for supporters to arrive and leave the stadium, but also the issue of accommodation… and access to water and WC’s for all», promised Aleksander Ceferin at the farewell, quoted by the Brazilian website. Trivela.Com.Br.
2023-06-23 16:36:00
#BALL #apologize #UEFA
