After nearly a week of standing by the line of blaming Liverpool fans for being late, UEFA have finally apologised for the events in Paris.
Here’s the full statement, via the UEFA website: ‘UEFA wishes to sincerely apologise to all spectators who had to experience or witness frightening and distressing events in the build-up to the UEFA Champions League final at the Stade de France on 28 May 2022 in Paris, on a night which should have been a celebration of European club football. No football fan should be put in that situation, and it must not happen again.
‘To that end, immediately after the events, UEFA commissioned an Independent Review to identify shortcomings and responsibilities of all entities involved in the organisation of the final, and has today published the Terms of Reference for this review.
‘The Independent Review, which will be led by Dr Tiago Brandão Rodrigues from Portugal, aims at understanding what happened in the build-up to the final, and determining what lessons should be learned to ensure there is no repeat of the actions and events of that day.
‘The Review will seek to establish a full picture and timeline of what occurred during the day, both within the stadium and the surrounding areas, including examining spectator flows to the stadium via the various access points.
‘It will also examine all relevant operational plans related to security, mobility, ticketing, as well as others at the discretion of the chairman of the Review, and will examine the planning and preparedness of the involved entities for the staging of the final, including at additional sites such as the Liverpool FC and Real Madrid CF fan meeting points.
‘The Independent Review aims to identify any issues or gaps in the implementation and running of operations and assess the roles and responsibilities of all the entities involved and the adequacy of their response to events, in order to make recommendations on best practices for the future for UEFA and the relevant stakeholders.
‘The Review will engage with UEFA and all relevant stakeholders, including, but not limited to, fan groups including Football Supporters Europe as well as those of the two finalist clubs; the finalist clubs themselves; general spectators; the French Football Federation; the Police and other public national and local authorities, and the stadium operator.
‘Further information on how relevant parties can submit their testimonies (via a dedicated email address or an online questionnaire) will be communicated shortly.
‘The findings of the Review, conclusions, and recommendations will be set out in detail in the Report and will be those of Dr. Tiago Brandão Rodrigues and the experts who will support him. The Review will start immediately and should be concluded within the shortest possible time-frame needed to produce a comprehensive review of the events.
‘Once completed, the Report will be published by UEFA on www.uefa.com in the interests of transparency’.
We’ll have to wait for the full findings once the ‘independent’ review takes place but it’s good to see that the lies about our fans have finally been eroded.
If this was any other entertainment event, a full refund would be demanded by all in attendance and this should be the case here.
It’s also very important that the French police are held accountable for their terrible handling of events and UEFA themselves for poor organisation, both of them combined could have so easily ended in fatal consequences.
All this is testament to what can happen when you stand up to authority, when they are in the wrong.
You can view the Tweet about the UEFA statement via @UEFA:
UEFA wishes to sincerely apologise to all spectators who had to experience or witness frightening and distressing events in the build-up to the UEFA Champions League final last week.
An independent review will seek to establish a full picture of what occurred.
Full details: ⬇️
— UEFA (@UEFA) June 3, 2022
#Ep53 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: The Paris debacle, reviewing Liverpool’s season… & more!
This simply isn’t good enough. LFC themselves have asked for an REPORT – fact based findings with original or collaborative evidence with accountably attributed to the relevant parties prior too and after the matchday – whilst the review, as stated by UEFA will involve an impartial oversight of the working and management throughout the matchday. I’m pretty certain these types of reviews are undertaken after each champions league matchday by UEFA. Really don’t see a positive outcome from this review and just another failure by UEFA. YNWA.