Uefa has confirmed that all 19,618 Liverpool fans who bought tickets from the club’s allocation for last May’s Champions League final are eligible for a refund after the chaos that marred the match in Paris.
On 13 February Uefa promised to open a “special refund scheme for fans” who attended the final, in response to the damning findings of the report it commissioned into the events around the Stade de France.
The report found that Uefa bears “primary responsibility” for the catastrophic organisational and safety failures that turned the final into a horrific, traumatic experience for thousands of Liverpool and Real Madrid supporters.
General admission tickets ranged from EUR70 to EUR690 and on Tuesday Uefa confirmed details of its scheme. Refunding the 19,618 allocation of Liverpool tickets will cost Uefa about ?3m. Its general secretary, Theodore Theodoridis, said the scheme was “comprehensive and fair” and recognised fans’ “negative experiences”.
“The special refund scheme covers all of the Liverpool FC ticket allocation for the final, ie 19,618 tickets,” Uefa said. It said it would “reimburse Liverpool FC the total value of these tickets and the club will then process the refunds to its supporters”.
Three law firms representing almost 3,000 Liverpool supporters caught up in the disorganisation have previously told Uefa that legal action will be taken unless more substantial compensation than a ticket refund is paid. They have argued that the fans are entitled to compensation for their physical and psychological injuries under French law.
In response to the Uefa announcement Tony Winterburn, partner at Pogust Goodhead who is running the legal case against Uefa, alongside the Liverpool-based law firm Binghams, said: “Digesting the fine details of this scheme will allow us to determine if it is, in fact, ‘comprehensive and fair’. Although this does present as a step towards Uefa accepting responsibility for the events, our legal case is still progressing.
“It is pertinent the extent of the physical and psychological injuries of our clients remains at the forefront of this process. We believe the term ‘refund’, in its broadest sense, does not go far enough in providing redress or acknowledging the true harm suffered by those at an event that should have been safe for all to attend.”
Some Madrid fans who bought tickets via their club and some spectators who purchased tickets from the 12,000 available outside the club allocations will also be eligible for a refund. Uefa said those supporters would need to meet its refund criteria and the scheme was designed to cover those “most affected when accessing the Stade de France”.
“Refunds will be available to all fans with tickets for gates A, B, C, X, Y and Z where the most difficult circumstances were reported,” it said. “In addition, all fans who according to the access control data did not enter the stadium before 21:00 CEST (the originally scheduled kick-off time), or who were not able to enter the stadium at all, will be eligible for a refund. Finally, Uefa will offer refunds to all fans who purchased accessibility tickets along with those of their accompanying persons.”
Fans experienced access delays, congestion, crushing, turnstile closures, brutal policing and criminal attacks by local groups. Uefa said anyone who had been the victim of crimes committed in Paris could report their case to the relevant French authorities.
The Football Supporters’ Association’s chief executive, Kevin Miles, said: “Uefa’s announcement of the ticket refunds is both unprecedented and hugely welcome, and builds concretely on the apology they extended to Liverpool fans earlier.”
It praised the work done by Spirit of Shankly and the Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association, who said in a joint statement: “With a promise to reimburse supporters, Uefa have 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.”
English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish