UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has claimed that UEFA have “learned from past mistakes” despite the Champions League final being marred by yet more chaos.
Manchester City supporters complained that they had faced severe problems getting to and from the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul earlier this month. Meanwhile, some have also claimed that there was a lack of access to toilet facilities, as well as fresh water.
Ceferin has now taken responsibility for the problems, but has claimed that UEFA has learned their lesson from 12 months ago. Liverpool’s final clash with Real Madrid at Paris’ Stade de France was marred by huge issues as fans attempted to get into the arena.
Speaking at the European Football Fans Congress in Manchester, Ceferin said: "On the whole this year's finals in Budapest, Prague, Eindhoven and indeed Helsinki went well. They proved that we have learned from past mistakes.
“We are well aware that in Istanbul not everything was perfect. And I am certainly not playing down the problems encountered by some.
"But let us continue working together to improve what can we improve. I´m thinking in particular transport links to and from [the] stadium, the hosting of the stadium supporters and access to water and toilets for everyone.
What do you make to Ceferin's comments? Share your thoughts in the comments below
“I can assure you that next year's Champions League final at Wembley and Euro 2024 in Germany will be a unique experience for fans."
Meanwhile, Ceferin also doubled down on the apology that he staged in relation to the trouble faced by Liverpool fans in the French capital. "We would love to erase events that happened last year from our memories," he added.
"Last year everyone welcomed our decision to move the finals from St. Petersburg to Paris and in the end we all know what happened. Good intentions are many times not enough and we know that and we are sorry for that."
The apology comes after huge chaos in the French capital last year as fans attempted to grant themselves entry to the Stade de France. Supporters were hemmed into dangerous bottlenecks on their way into the ground, with some even sprayed with tear gas by police as they waited for more than two hours to get inside.
That led to kick-off for the showpiece event being hugely delayed. Despite initial unfair and unfounded criticism for supporters, an independent inquiry has since determined that UEFA bore “primary responsibility” for the safety failures which “almost led to disaster.”
They expressed their intentions to refund all Liverpool fans who attended the final earlier this year with a total of 19,618 tickets set to be reimbursed.
