The Reds supporters who were most ɴᴇɢᴀᴛɪᴠᴇʟʏ impacted when trying to enter the Stade de France on May 28, 2022, will receive a special refund program from the European governing body.
The 19,618 tickets allocated to Liverpool are all covered by the refund program, and fans will receive their full ticket price back from the organization that oversees European football. Tickets to the incident-plagued final in Paris last May cost anywhere from £59.40 to £585.70.
Champions League final kick-off delayed as police use tear gas on Liverpool fans | The Independent
Last year’s UEFA Champions League final was postponed by 38 minutes.
Liverpool participated in the decision-making process and influenced the initial discussions.
All Liverpool supporters with tickets for gates A, B, C, X, Y, and Z, where the most difficult conditions were reported, will be eligible for refunds, according to UEFA. The statement also states that any spectators who were unable to enter the stadium or who did not manage to do so before 21:00 CEST (the scheduled kickoff time) will be entitled to a refund.
The refund follows the indiscriminate use of tear gas on their supporters, which caused crashes outside the stadium before kickoff but was initially attributed to them by UEFA and the French government.
Both later denied those allegations, and a UEFA-commissioned report later praised their behavior and claimed that the two governing bodies’ organizational shortcomings might have had ᴅɪsᴀsᴛʀᴏᴜs repercussions.
Due to the crowd issues, the final—which Real Madrid won 1-0—was delayed by 38 minutes. Fans inside the stadium were informed that a “security issue” was to blame for the delay.
Liverpool received an apology from UEFA in February, and the organization also promised “a special refund scheme for fans,” which it later ʀᴇᴠᴇᴀʟᴇᴅ on Tuesday.
Why the Champions League Final Was Delayed – The New York Times
Many fans were unable to enter the field because of the incident.
Refunds will also be available to some Real Madrid supporters, including those who failed to enter the stadium before the scheduled kickoff time or at all.
UEFA general secretary Theodore Theodoridis said: “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.
“We value the input from the Liverpool FC supporter organizations Spirit of Shankly (SoS) and Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association (LDSA) as well as the open and transparent dialogue throughout this period.
“We recognize the ɴᴇɢᴀᴛɪᴠᴇ 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.”
Spirit of Shankly welcomed the news, saying in a statement that UEFA had “gone some way to acknowledging their part in the fiasco”.
“But it does not excuse UEFA, exempt them from criticism, or lessen the need for them to implement all of the recommendations made by the Independent Inquiry,” they added.
what happened in Paris
Police have come under fire for failing to act quickly enough to stop locals from attacking fans as they attempted to scale fences and jump turnstiles and for relying too heavily on the use of tear gas and pepper spray on innocent spectators.
Why was the Champions League final delayed 36 minutes? – The Athletic
Police used tear gas on the fans.
UEFA has been given “primary responsibility” as the event’s owner, but it’s understood that not all committee members agreed with the judgment. The police and the French football federation “bear responsibility,” according to the report, for their roles in ensuring public safety.
It has been discovered that there was no backup plan, which would have allowed stewards and police to be redeployed to handle crowd control issues.
The game was delayed by 38 minutes due to a combination of operational issues outside the stadium that made it difficult for upset fans to get inside, especially those with disabilities and those who have asthma and had to deal with the tear gas and pepper spray.
When thousands of Liverpool fans were crammed into a small space and tear gas was fired into the vicinity, there was a “massive” bottleneck.
The commission disregarded French attempts to pin the May 28 incident on ticketless supporters, claiming that issues were apparent about three hours before kickoff and that supporters who arrived late were not to blame.
Total compensation from UEFA
There were four price ranges for remaining tickets before the match: €70 for category 4 Group 3: €180 Category 2: 490 Euros €690 for Category 1.
According to a rough estimate of the cost to UEFA in paying back refunds, the governing body may be required to pay back more than five million euros.
Liverpool is responsible for making compensation
UEFA has asked Liverpool FC to implement the refunds so that personal data is protected and the procedure is as simple as possible because Reds supporters bought tickets from Liverpool FC rather than directly from UEFA. The club has declared that it will carry out the unique refund plan and will give specifics regarding a platform for the impacted fans.
