UEFA Refunds Tickets of all Liverpool Fans Who Were Caught in Chaos During 2021-22 Champions League final
Liverpool fans were initially blamed for the chaos but reports say they were not at fault
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European footballing watchdog UEFA issued a statement on Monday saying that it will reimburse the supporters who experienced the near-disastrous situation at the Champions League final in 2022. A shameful dereliction on the part of French and UEFA authorities made the venue a life hazard for many travelling fans.
UEFA General Secretary Theodore Theodoridis accepted the fact that the event could’ve gone out of control and Liverpool fans faced a threat of getting stampeded. Theodoridis said in the statement, “We have taken into account a huge number of views expressed both publicly and privately and we believe we have devised a scheme that is comprehensive and fair.”
Theodoridis also said that the organisation was in constant communication with Liverpool’s Spirit of Shankly and Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association supporter clubs. Talking about the two organisations, the letter read, “We have taken into account a huge number of views expressed both publicly and privately and we believe we have devised a scheme that is comprehensive and fair.”
Real Madrid faced Liverpool in the final game of the season and won. Brazilian winger Vinicius Jr. Scored the match-winner for Los Blancos to win the match to the fourteenth UEFA Champions league title. However, the whole situation turned sour as thousands of supporters were tear gassed in an attempt to control the raging supporters who wanted to get into the Stade De France.
UEFA went on further to say, “We recognize the negative experiences of those supporters on the day and with this scheme, we will refund fans who had bought tickets and who were the most affected by the difficulties in accessing the stadium.”
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Research report on the mishandling of the situation by an independent firm
Initially, the governing body blamed the Liverpool fans for the anarchy. UEFA hired an independent investigation firm that looked into the matter. The firm released its findings earlier in February, censuring the authorities for neglecting their duty and abandoning their positions.
Among some of the dreadful findings, the firm noted that the UEFA Security advisor had notified the organisation that the security at the Additional Security Perimeter entrance 3 (ASP3) was ‘not fit for purpose’.
The report went on to summarise, “The panel concludes that assertions regarding huge numbers of ticketless supporters, and those with fake tickets, have been wrongly inflated and have been stated as fact, to deflect responsibility for the planning and operational failures of stakeholders. This is reprehensible and has involved Uefa, Uefa Events SA [Uefa’s events organising arm], FFF, the Préfecture de Police, government officials and French ministers.”
Finally, talking about the stakeholders who are to be blamed for the incident, the report concluded, “With no police to protect anyone from sporadic criminality, it appears from video footage and eyewitness accounts, that Liverpool supporters on this part of the concourse spontaneously formed orderly queues, regularly admonished those seeking to circumvent these and collectively organised to protect the vulnerable. Indeed, the Panel concurs with Scraton et al (2022) that the capacity of the Liverpool supporters to self-organise within this context was a primary factor in preventing harm and ensuring our inquiry is investigating a ‘near miss’ rather than a stadium tragedy involving fatalities.”
The Gaps in the statement
However, for all the fans who missed out on entering the stadium, UEFA will not refund them. The statement made it clear that those who had tickets to gates A,B,C,X,Y, and Z will be eligible for the refunds.
This has again enraged a section of fans. Fans who got caught up in the fiasco at other gates or those who made it to the ground minutes before the match started and missed a chunk of the match will not get their money back.
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Arpan Ghosh
(1403 Articles Published)