Liverpool fans unfairly blamed for Champions League 2022-23 final chaos in Paris: Reports
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According to a French Senate report, Liverpool fans were unfairly blamed for the chaos that surrounded last season’s Champions League final in Paris in order to ‘divert attention’ from the failure of the organizers. The Senate has heard from Liverpool supporters, French police and government officials and UEFA’s events director, Martin Kallen, since the match on 28 May, which kicked off more than half an hour late.
France’s interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, initially blamed the crowds at the perimeter of the Stade de France on ticketless Liverpool supporters, with police using tear gas on fans as they waited to gain entry.
The provisional report of the findings, published on Wednesday stated, “It is unfair to have wanted to make supporters of the Liverpool team bear the responsibility for the disturbances that occurred, as the minister of the interior did to divert attention from the inability of the state to adequately manage the crowds present and to curb the action of several hundred violent and co-ordinated offenders.”
The report found the chaos had been caused by a ‘chain of events and malfunctions’ in the days and hours leading up to kick-off. According to the Senate report, the French authorities must learn from their ‘serious collective failure’ and apply them to the hosting of the Rugby World Cup next year and the Olympic Games in 2024.
The report criticised Uefa’s management of the ticketing system as ‘unsuitable’ and a lack of training for stewards, who were quickly overwhelmed. According to the Senate, Uefa failed to put in place a system in advance to detect the extent of forgeries.
Counterfeit tickets and inability to detect the same was the major reason for Champions League final chaos
According to the report, the French football federation (FFF) discovered 2,471 counterfeit tickets, 1,644 of which were in the southern sector of the stadium reserved for Liverpool fans. It also claimed that the decision to conduct a preliminary check on ticket validity at pre-screening security points had resulted in checkpoints being closed.
The Senate proposed tamper-proof ticketing for such major events, as well as better coordination between stewards and police. Policing was influenced by a ‘dated vision’ of British fans, the report said, as officers prepared for an influx of hooligans, rather than a plan built around the enjoyment of supporters and their ease of access to the venue. “Welcoming supporters in a festive setting had been neglected,” it stated.
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