UEFA to Refund Liverpool Fans For Tickets They Paid to Attend the 2022 Final UCL

The move follows an independent report which found UEFA bears primary responsibility for the chaotic scenes before and during the game against Real Madrid.

Tickets will be refunded to all 19,618 Reds supporters and also to neutral fans who meet the requirements. The announcement has been praised by fan group Football Supporters Europe.

UEFA bears primary responsibility

UEFA, as event owner, bears primary responsibility for failures which almost led to disaster during the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid in Paris last May, an independent review has concluded. It ruled that the organisational failings could have had catastrophic consequences for fans who were in danger as they were penned in and sprayed with tear gas before kick-off.

It also found that Uefa's safety and security unit, which was headed by Pavlica since 2021, played no effective part in planning or dealing with the crisis. It said the stewards and police were not redeployed to cope with crowd management challenges and that there was no "Plan B" in place.

A spokesman for UEFA explained: “UEFA bears primary responsibility for the failures that occurred during last year’s Champions League final. It also takes responsibility for the actions taken to improve the safety of all supporters at future UEFA events, and will review the recommendations made in this report in order to introduce changes to ensure the highest level of safety for all football fans.

This includes a refund scheme to cover all 19-thousand-6-hundred-and-18 tickets bought by Liverpool fans, as well as refunds for Real Madrid fans who failed to gain entry to the stadium and neutral fans who met certain criteria. UEFA has appointed the club to administer this process and is committed to the transparency of the refunding process.

Assertions that late, ticketless supporters caused the problems have a particular resonance with those that were made after the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, when South Yorkshire police claimed Liverpool fans were the primary cause of the crush that killed 97 people. The panel repeatedly referred to these false accusations in its report and pointed to the long campaign to disprove them.

In response to the independent report, which was released in February, UEFA announced an apology and promised a special refund scheme for fans. It will now follow through on those promises. It will refund all Liverpool fans for their tickets, including those who had to leave the Stade de France in a state of distress because they were unable to enter the stadium before kick-off.

Ticket allocation

UEFA has announced that it will refund Liverpool fans for tickets they paid to attend the 2022 final UCL against Real Madrid in Paris. It’s a move that follows a controversial delay of the match by 38 minutes because of crowd issues.

Thousands of Liverpool supporters were held outside the Stade de France for hours before the game and tear gas was used by French police to break up the crowds. The governing body also apologised to fans and promised that there would be a special refund scheme that would apply to everyone who could not get in the stadium before kickoff because of a “security issue”.

However, lawyers for hundreds of supporters have said that the offer did not go far enough, and they will continue to pursue legal action against UEFA. Three law firms representing Liverpool fans have already warned that UEFA must pay more than just ticket refunds for those affected by the chaos.

The governing body had initially claimed that the “late arrival of supporters” contributed to the delays, but an independent inquiry into the event later discounted those claims. It also ruled that the crowds were not caused by thousands of counterfeit tickets, which French police had said were a factor.

In the meantime, UEFA has allocated 40,000 tickets for the two teams to sell, with another 12,000 distributed via a lottery system on its website. This represents less than half of the total tickets available for sale at Stade de France, which seats 75,000.

Some Liverpool supporters are unhappy with their allocations, claiming that they only receive 50 per cent of the tickets to the game. The remaining tickets are given to sponsors, UEFA and national associations, commercial partners, broadcasters and official hospitality providers.

Those fans who can’t get tickets through the club’s ticketing process can buy them on the secondary market, but should be aware of unauthorised sellers. Those who buy tickets from unauthorised sources will be banned from travelling to the game and face legal action.

UEFA has also warned that fake match tickets are being offered online, and is urging supporters to report any such offers. There have been reports of fake tickets being sold for the upcoming Liverpool match against Chelsea.

Refunds

UEFA has announced it will refund 19,618 tickets for Liverpool fans who attended last year’s Champions League final against Real Madrid in Paris. The move follows an independent report that cleared Reds supporters of culpability for the chaos outside Stade de France before the game.

An investigation panel found that the French police used tear gas and pepper spray on fans indiscriminately, which caused them to smash into security barricades. It also blamed UEFA for failing to act to prevent such incidents in future.

The governing body later apologised and promised a special refunds process. It now says it will give ticket refunds to all supporters who suffered problems when accessing the stadium.

According to UEFA, the refunds will be available to all ticket-holders who were held up when trying to enter the stadium and those who did not get into the venue by the originally scheduled kick-off time. Those who could not enter the stadium will also be eligible to receive a refund, and the governing body said that they will process those requests via its customer service.

In the lead-up to the final, tens of thousands of fans were squeezed into overcrowded queues outside the stadium. Several groups of Liverpool supporters were penned in for hours before the game.

During the pre-game chaos, UEFA blamed Liverpool supporters for arriving late and using counterfeit tickets to gain entry to the stadium. But an independent report into the event later praised Reds fans for calmly preventing a “mass fatality catastrophe”.

As part of the refunds, UEFA will cover the cost of tickets to any fan who was unable to enter the Stade de France by the original kick-off time or did not get in at all. The governing body added that refunds would also be offered to neutral fans and Real Madrid fans who met the criteria set out by UEFA.

UEFA’s move has been welcomed by supporters’ groups Spirit of Shankly and Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association, who claim they have never before seen such an apology from a football governing body. However, they argue that the process does not go far enough to absolve UEFA from responsibility for the mayhem. They also say it is vital that the governing body implements all of the recommendations made by an independent inquiry into the event.

Requirements

UEFA has today (Tuesday) announced a special refund scheme for Liverpool fans who were affected by the chaos that marred last May’s Champions League final in Paris. The European football governing body said it would refund all 19,618 tickets that Liverpool supporters held, as well as the 20,000 Real Madrid tickets that were also affected by the chaos outside Stade de France on May 28th.

In an unprecedented move that will reportedly cost UEFA millions according to ESPN, the body has opened up a system where fans can claim back their money. The move is an absolute show of UEFA’s commitment to supporting fans following the Champions League final disaster that saw thousands of Liverpool supporters struggle to enter the stadium and were indiscriminately sprayed with tear gas by police before the game.

After an independent report found UEFA and the French government were primarily responsible for crowd management failures ahead of the Champions League final, UEFA has now apologised to Liverpool and refunded all Reds fans who attended the match. The governing body has now also vowed to implement all the recommendations of an independent panel that looked into the chaotic scenes outside the Stade de France, including providing better crowd management, implementing an emergency plan B and creating contingencies that could have redeployed stewards and police to deal with problems.

This is a hugely welcome and unprecedented decision from UEFA which builds on an apology that the governing body made to Liverpool fans in February. It was praised by fan groups Spirit of Shankly and the Liverpool Disabled Supporters Society, who told ESPN that it was an important step forward in helping to redress the damage caused to Liverpool fans by the disaster in Paris.

A UEFA statement read: “Refunds will be available to all fans who were most affected when accessing the Stade de France on 28 May 2022. These are all fans who held a ticket for gates A, B, C, X, Y and Z where the most difficult circumstances were reported. This will be provided to all Liverpool FC and Real Madrid ticket holders.

UEFA’s apology

After accepting blame for a catalogue of organisational failures that almost led to disaster at last year’s Champions League final in Paris, UEFA has now announced it will refund all Liverpool fans who attended the match. The governing body says the decision follows an independent report that slammed UEFA for its failures which led to a series of incidents outside Stade de France that saw thousands of fans unable to get into the stadium.

Despite a large number of Liverpool fans having valid tickets, they were denied entrance at turnstiles due to faulty scanning devices or because crowds were too big. Some were even sprayed with tear gas by police as they tried to get inside the stadium.

In an unprecedented move, UEFA has said it will now reimburse all Liverpool fans who came to the showpiece game against Real Madrid in 2022. The governing body will offer refunds to anyone who did not enter the stadium by kick-off or could not get in at all, including those with access issues and supporters from other clubs.

A special refund scheme will also be implemented for all those who purchased tickets from Liverpool FC and did not buy them directly from UEFA. This will be processed based on requests received via UEFA’s customer service.

The special refund scheme will also cover some Real Madrid fans who purchased tickets from their club and some neutral supporters who bought tickets from the 12,000 tickets available in the general sale. The refunds will be given to those who meet UEFA’s criteria, which is a list of fans who were the “most affected” when trying to gain entry to the Stade de France.

UEFA’s apology comes after an independent report that was commissioned by the body found that UEFA and its officials bore primary responsibility for the safety failures which almost led to disaster at the game. It also revealed that only the calmness of Liverpool fans prevented a mass fatality catastrophe at the Stade de France.

This is a significant move for UEFA, who were previously condemned for the chaos outside the stadium, as they tried to pin the blame on Liverpool fans for arriving late despite having been held for hours prior to kick-off. UEFA’s announcement does not however excuse them from criticism or lessen the need for them to implement all of the recommendations made by the Independent Inquiry.

UEFA’s responsibility

After an independent report found that UEFA bears primary responsibility for the chaos at last year’s Champions League final in Paris, UEFA has announced it will refund Liverpool fans for the game. This will cover all 19,618 tickets purchased from Liverpool FC’s official allocation and is expected to cost millions of pounds in total.

An independent inquiry into the crowd management problems outside the Stade de France last May found UEFA was responsible for a catalogue of organisational failures that almost led to disaster. Tightly penned in supporters were pepper-sprayed and tear gassed by French police and, as a result, kick-off was delayed by over 36 minutes.

UEFA and the French authorities initially blamed ticketless Liverpool fans for the chaotic scenes outside the stadium, but an investigation panel said that there was no evidence to support those claims. It added that UEFA had to take the lion’s share of the blame because of the underlying safety issues.

As a result of the reports, UEFA and the French government apologised to Liverpool for the incidents and promised a special refund scheme. This has now been announced by UEFA on Tuesday and it is expected to cover all 19,618 tickets purchased from Liverpool’s official allocation.

The refund will also be available to Real Madrid fans and neutral supporters who meet the criteria set by UEFA. The refund will be processed via UEFA’s customer service and is likely to take a few days to process, according to ESPN.

Liverpool fan groups Spirit of Shankly (SOS) and the Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association (LDSA) welcomed the move. “We are pleased that UEFA have finally admitted their part in the fiasco and have committed to offering refunds,” they said in a joint statement.

A statement from the Liverpool City Region metro mayor Steve Rotheram read: “I was at the match in Paris and saw the police use indiscriminate tear gas on fans on the concourses near turnstiles that Liverpool supporters used to enter the stadium. It was a horrifying experience and UEFA should have been proactive enough to stop this happening.