Liverpool fans have been exonerated for the chaos at the 2022 Champions League final by a French senate report, which stated supporters were “unfairly blamed” by the minister of the interior in order to “divert attention from the inability of the state” to safely stage the event.
A provisional reporting of the findings from the event instead put the responsibility on “major shortcomings” in intelligence; transport routes for supporters; insufficient communication; and issues going further back in terms of basic planning.
Laurent Lefon, co-chair of the inquiry, blamed a “string of dysfunctions at every level” in a press conference afterwards. The location of ticket validity checks, which Liverpool supporters had criticised for creating the initial bottleneck that led to the trouble, was similarly criticised.
Liverpool welcomed the findings of the report and have called on the French government to issue a full apology.
The senate had heard from supporters who attended the final, French police, government officials and Uefa’s events director, Martin Kallen. France's interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, had initially blamed the delays and trouble on ticketless Liverpool supporters, with claims that there were up to 40,000 fake tickets.
The situation saw police use teargas and pepper spray on fans, with children and elderly supporters affected.
This defence has now been demolished by the French senate. A provisional report published on Wednesday said: “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 coordinated offenders.”
It went on: “The systems put in place had major shortcomings with regard to the intelligence (absence of hooligans but presence of delinquents in large numbers), the transport routes for supporters (removal of a drop-off route at the surroundings of the stadium) and insufficient communication.
“It is not only in the execution that problems arose. Upstream, the crisis scenarios were insufficiently worked on and did not demonstrate the necessary flexibility in the face of so many unanticipated events.”
Billy Hogan, the CEO of Liverpool, said: “I was incredibly encouraged to see one of the senators specifically apologise to the Liverpool fans and to the Real Madrid fans for what happened on the night. And I would ask that the French government do the same.
“Not just to the fans of Liverpool and Real Madrid but to both clubs, who have had reputational issues coming out of the final and we would hope they would extend an apology where one is deserved.”
Uefa’s management of the ticketing system was also described as “unsuitable”, with a lack of training for stewards ultimately seeing them overwhelmed.
The report said the French football federation (FFF) had identified 2,471 counterfeit tickets, 1,644 of them in the southern end reserved for Liverpool supporters – quite a difference from the initial claims.
Uefa were criticised for failing to put in place a system to detect forgeries, and the senate recommended the introduction of tamper-proof ticketing for such events, as well as improved coordination between stewards and police.
The senate said the French authorities must learn from the “serious collective failure” ahead of next year’s Rugby World Cup and the 2024 Olympic Games.
Additional reporting by PA
