2023-09-26 23:37:08
The total fiasco of the 2022 Champions League final, organized at the last moment at the Stade de France following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, continues to reveal its darkest secrets. This Monday, an investigation published in the prestigious English newspaper The Guardian reveals that UEFA was accused internally of presenting “false evidence” when releasing the findings of its independent investigation into the event in order to shield its safety and security unit from criticism.
The European body had commissioned a group of experts to analyze this evening, which came to the conclusion that UEFA had a “primary responsibility” because it had not “controlled and supervised the security plans and operations at Paris,” writes the Guardian. “However, the panel said this failure was not primarily due to the safety and security unit whose role is to oversee security, but to Sharon Burkhalter-Lau’s (then director of operations) events division of UEFA), because it had sidelined unity.
An “agreed strategy”
The Guardian reveals that in notes sent to UEFA general secretary Theodore Theodoridis and three other senior officials, Sharon Burkhalter-Lau called the evidence provided by UEFA to support the accusations “completely false”. Furthermore, it turns out that the security and safety unit has, since 2021, been the responsibility of Zeljko Pavlica, the best friend of President Aleksander Ceferin.
“Saying that she could not accept the conclusion that UEFA and its operations management were primarily responsible for the chaos, Ms Burkhalter-Lau stressed that, in her view, the problems had been mainly caused by the Paris police, on “that UEFA had no authority, and it rejected the accusations against its team”, basing them on “statements provided by UEFA which were false and concerted”, continues the Guardian article . In her letter, Ms Burkhalter-Lau speaks of an “agreed strategy to protect the security unit”.
On the sidelines of the final, many supporters, in particular from Liverpool, had been the victims of chaotic organization and management which had caused serious excesses at the entrance to the stadium and a postponement of the start time. kick-off of the meeting. Nearly 900 Liverpool supporters decided to file a complaint against UEFA.
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