After an investigation determined that a string of administrative mistakes “nearly led to a calamity” outside the Stade de France, UEFA decided to refund all tickets for Liverpool supporters for the 2022 Champions League final.
The 19,618 tickets allocated to Liverpool under the refund program will all be refunded in full by the organization that oversees European football. Tickets for the incident-plagued final in Paris last May cost between £59.40 and £585.70.
Liverpool was involved in the decision-making process and influenced the conversations from the beginning.
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The reimbursement follows the indiscriminate use of tear gas on their supporters, which caused crushes outside the stadium prior to kickoff but was first attributed to them by UEFA and the French authorities.
Both eventually denied such allegations, and a UEFA-commissioned assessment later praised their behavior and claimed that the two governing bodies’ organizational shortcomings might have had disastrous 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 reimbursement mechanism for fans,” which it later revealed on Tuesday.
Refunds will also be available to some Real Madrid supporters, including those who failed to enter the stadium before the planned kickoff time or at all.
Theodore Theodoridis, general secretary of UEFA, stated: “We have considered a sizable number of comments voiced both publicly and privately and we believe we have developed a structure that is thorough and fair.
“We value the input from the Liverpool FC supporter organisations Spirit of Shankly (SoS) and Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association (LDSA) as well as the open and transparent dialogue throughout this period.
“We recognise the negative 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.