Stade de France incidents: "UEFA bears primary responsibility" (independent review panel)

"UEFA, as event owner, bears primary responsibility for failures which almost led to disaster," states the report produced by a panel in charge of the independent investigation into the events surrounding the Champions League final on 28/05/2022 between Liverpool FC (Premier League) and Real Madrid CF (LaLiga Santander) (0-1) at the Stade de France (Saint-Denis, Paris, FRA), published on 13/02/2023 (document available to download).

The "delegation and deference" model for the organisation of the event, initially planned for Saint Petersburg (RUS) and moved to France on 24/02/2022 (D-93), the same day as Russia's war in Ukraine began, was "defective in that there was an absence of overall control or oversight of safety and security," according to the panel's report, which was led by Tiago Brandão Rodrigues, member of the Portuguese Parliament and former Minister.

"Wembley (London, ENG) is the ideal stadium for us, but it was not available at that time. We know the Stade de France well, having organised several Euro 2016 matches there without any problems, including the final"…