UEFA report details triggers of Champions League final chaos and how to prevent it in future

The independent report into Liverpool fans' treatment at the Stade de France in Paris in 2022 spells out what contributed to the chaos and how to prevent it happening again.

Liverpool have implored UEFA to fully implement all of the report's 21 recommendations, after European football’s governing body commissioned a panel to examine what went wrong at the match against Real Madrid.

The panel's findings blame UEFA and the French authorities.

What happened?

The report lists a number of factors which contributed to the disorganised and worrying scenes. Some are detailed here:

• Transport routes

Only one of two railway lines to the stadium was fully operational because of industrial action.

It meant thousands of Liverpool fans, travelling from the city centre, arrived at the same railway station - Stade de France Saint-Denis.

The walk to the stadium was not signposted and fans were directed into a built-up area and through a narrow subway and motorway underpass, partially blocked by police vans.

The route ended at a checkpoint at the bottom of a 30-foot-wide ramp, none of which was designated as a main entrance.

• Ticket checks

It simply took too long to check tickets. A mix of paper and digital tickets meant the slow checks resulted in congestion at barriers.

An estimated 15,000 fans were in that area more than two-and-a-half hours before kick-off.

A report by French senators accepted a “risk of crushing” did develop, raising painful memories of what happened at Hillsborough. The checks were eventually stopped.

• Violent attacks

Abandoning ticket checks allowed a number of local youths to access the perimeter of the stadium.

A number of those either attempted - and some succeeded - to jump the fence or tried to steal tickets from fans penned in as the turnstiles had been closed.

The Senate report estimated 300-400 locals committed “numerous acts of theft with violence observed by the police”.

After the match local gangs ambushed fans exiting the stadium and, with no police protection, many were subjected to violent robberies by thugs with weapons.

• Police response

After congestion built-up to dangerous levels outside the perimeter, police pepper-sprayed fans - including children - who were pressed up against the railings.

As the match drew to a close, officers in riot gear emerged inside the stadium and positioned themselves around Liverpool fans.

They did not take up position around Real Madrid's supporters.

A lack of presence outside the stadium contributed to gangs running riot against defenceless fans.

• UEFA’s actions

When kick-off was delayed, an initial message on the stadium's screens incorrectly blamed Liverpool fans’ late arrival which prompted outrage from Reds supporters already inside.

UEFA doubled-down on the blame after the match, issuing a statement which said: “The turnstiles at the Liverpool end became blocked by thousands of fans who had purchased fake tickets which did not work in the turnstiles”.

• Local authority intervention

French ministers spoke of Liverpool supporters as a major hooligan threat, contrary to intelligence from Merseyside Police, and it emerged French police acted on a misconceived view of the Hillsborough disaster.

They believed it meant riot officers had to be out in force.

France's Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin, claimed “30,000 to 40,000 Liverpool fans” had forged or no tickets, alleging “industrial scale” ticket fraud.

However, the Senate report stressed this was “unfair" and an attempt to "divert attention" from the state’s "inability" to manage crowds and keep people safe.

Recommendations

The report makes 21 recommendations. A number refer to procedural and technical issues but others relate to treatment of fans.

The independent panel recommended, in general, UEFA must take responsibility for oversight of delivery - irrespective of private stewarding or policing matters - and must exercise due diligence to ensure corrective action is taken where required.

Here are some:

• Recommendation 1

“Where failures are identified, UEFA must not just move on, but must rather exercise due diligence to ensure corrective action is taken where required, in advance of future events.

"This should be clearly documented, and a system instituted to ensure it is included in the consideration of future bids, and the planning of future events.

• Recommendation 2

“Supporters arriving in the host city without access to match tickets should never be treated as inherently a public order problem but facilitated as tourists who are travelling to be a part of the festival the authorities are seeking to promote.”

• Recommendation 3

“They (UEFA’s safety and security unit) should ensure there is an effective and agreed multi-agency crisis management plan, to be instituted in the event of an emergency.

"Where they occur the S&S unit should seek to actively resolve disagreements between partners and escalate any which remain.

"This responsibility should extend to mobility of supporters to the vicinity of the venue, arrangements for approach in the last kilometre, and access and should include consideration of all manner of threat and risk, including crime and congestion.”

• Recommendation 4

“Include fuller and more proactive engagement with disabled supporter organisations and the respective clubs to determine needs and requirements, as part of UEFA’s fan dialogue policy.

"UEFA should proactively monitor all relevant service provisions for disabled supporters, and indeed other vulnerable supporters including children and the elderly, during the planning and delivery phases.”

• Recommendation 6

“It is made a requirement for host stadiums to have well-managed security perimeters, welcome services and crowd guidance and orientation.

"This should be integrated with efficient channelling and proper stewarding deployment avoiding congestions at turnstiles.

"In its oversight role UEFA should stress test the electronic turnstile systems to ensure sufficient functionality…more rigorous procedures must be developed to calculate flow through these access points.”

• Recommendation 12

“Football Supporters Europe and its affiliated supporter organisations need to be involved as meaningful stakeholders throughout the planning process and their representatives need to act on the day as integrated observers.”

• Recommendation 13

“Stewards – or marshals – should be trained and briefed to provide information and guidance to supporters (in their own language), but also to provide situation reports as necessary, and as problems arise, to the control rooms.”

• Recommendation 18

“The panel noted its significant concerns about the deployment of tear gas and pepper spray on the one hand, and the absence of any discernible engagement or dialogue with supporters.

"Guarantees sought should include an assurance that the policing authorities will operate a supporter engagement model, and that the deployment of riot police and the use of weaponry including tear gas and pepper spray, will only ever be used proportionately in circumstances.”

• Recommendation 21

“Evidence suggests similar problems, particularly regarding policing and access for disabled supporters, are regularly experienced, though to a lesser scale, by supporters attending other UEFA governed fixtures.

"We recommend that UEFA and the CoE (Council of Europe) Monitoring Committee looks closely at their capacity to apply some of the above recommendations more generically to avoid similar dangers developing beyond the remit of the UCLF alone.”

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