“It is remarkable that no-one lost their life.”
That’s the damning conclusion of an independent report into the chaos at last year’s Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid at Stade de France.
Fans have told of severe congestion, being attacked by locals and tear-gassed by police – one supporter called it a “carnival of horrors” which bore echoes of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster in which 97 Liverpool fans died.
The panel has concluded that European football governing body Uefa, as event owner, “bears primary responsibility for failures which almost led to disaster.”
It also criticised the “reprehensible” attempt by authorities to incorrectly claim thousands of Liverpool fans without valid tickets caused the problems.
Here, BBC Sport picks out new detail and first-hand testimony from the report – including from fans who had also been at Hillsborough – outlining how events unfolded.
Travel chaos – gates open 18:00 local time, three hours to kick-off
A rail strike meant only one of two train lines to the stadium was fully operational. So thousands of Liverpool fans travelling from the centre of Paris all arrived at the same station, Stade de France Saint-Denis.
The 15-minute walking route to the stadium was not signposted and fans were directed into a built-up area, through a narrow subway and motorway underpass – partially blocked by police vans. It led to a checkpoint at the end of a 30-foot-wide ramp, which was not designated as a main entrance.
“We were stuck for an hour and a half under a bridge. No toilets, no water. We were… I mean, I don’t know what time, cos I couldn’t get a hand in my pocket to… it was that squashed,” 71-year-old Liverpool fan Sheila Reeson told the panel.
Ticket issues – 18:30
Huge congestion built up at checkpoints as tickets were checked. The system was complicated by a mix of paper and digital tickets. An estimated 15,000 fans were crowded in that area more than two and a half hours before kick-off.
A risk of crushing developed – particularly traumatic for Liverpool fans, specifically Hillsborough survivors – and ticket pre-checks were abandoned.
Violent attacks – 19:00
Local youths gained access to the perimeter of the stadium. Some jumped the fence or tried to steal tickets from fans who were penned in as the turnstiles had been closed.
It was estimated 300-400 locals committed “numerous acts of theft with violence observed by the police”.
‘Almost a mass-fatality catastrophe’ – ‘The police were like Terminators’
Having allowed congestion to build up to dangerous levels outside the perimeter, the police’s response was to indiscriminately pepper-spray fans – including children – pressed up against the railings in an attempt to relieve pressure on the turnstiles.
“I started receiving messages saying our disabled supporters were being gassed and crushed outside the turnstiles,” said Ted Morris, chair of the Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association.
“They started contacting me, saying they were terrified and panicking. It was harrowing to receive these messages with me unable to help them. They said the situation outside the stadium was becoming critical, and they feared for their lives.
“The saddest thing about this is that our disabled fans have arrived in Paris to attend a football festival, but at that very moment they are in the middle of a carnival of horrors which will leave them with long-term mental scars.”
The panel said the use of pepper spray was “weaponry which has no place at a festival of football”.
It added: “The dangerous conditions on the concourse outside the turnstiles were compounded by the police deploying tear gas at disorderly groups of locals, as well as using pepper spray on supporters trying to gain entrance with valid tickets. It is remarkable that no-one lost their life.
“All the stakeholders interviewed by the panel have agreed that this situation was a near-miss: a term used when an event almost turns into a mass-fatality catastrophe.
“The parallels between Hillsborough 1989 and Paris 2022 are palpable. The similarities include the fact that both events were preventable, and both were caused by the failures of those responsible for public safety.”
Liverpool fan Jim Galvin, who had been at Hillsborough, said: “The police were like stormtroopers, like Terminators, were just coming along with the baton, just almost swatting everyone down.
“I finally managed to get my daughter up [over the wall] and the lads pulled her over and then with that, one of the stewards came and just started… started punching, punching me in the face and everything. Which wasn’t very nice, but it was because he was kind of leaning down. He was 7-8 foot in the air and leaning down to me.
“And you could just see the people, you know, in authority, on the other side of the fence, that were just standing and laughing at you.”
Kick-off delayed: 20:55 following decision by Uefa’s Ceferin in VIP stairwell
The report says that it was actually Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin who ultimately took the decision to delay kick-off, while standing in a stairwell after having a meeting with the King of Spain in the stadium VIP area.
Kick-off was first delayed for 15 minutes, eventually for 36 minutes, with an initial message displayed on screens inside incorrectly blaming Liverpool fans’ late arrival which prompted outrage from Reds supporters already inside.
The panel found Uefa’s safety and security unit was “marginalised” by the Uefa events organisers and did not perform the required role of overseeing safety requirements.
The decision taken by Ceferin should have been made by the police commander in the control room, in liaison with Uefa and the French Football Federation’s safety advisers, the report said.
“I think the hardest thing was to see my son and my husband in tears when we got inside, cos my husband thought, he said the first thing he thought was he was going to lose me,” said fan Reeson.
“If it hadn’t had been for a lot of the Liverpool fans, the male Liverpool fans, I don’t know that I’d have survived because they kept people back from me, so I’d got space.
“I’ve never been in a crush like that before, but there were lots… I could hear people saying ‘This is Hillsborough.’ This is, this is, you know, people were squashed at the fence.
“They spoke to police through the fence and they got pepper sprayed. They didn’t get [an] answer, they just got pepper sprayed for asking ‘What’s going on? Why are we not being let in?'”
End of the match – 23:30
As the match drew to a close, police in riot gear emerged inside the stadium and positioned themselves around Liverpool – but not Madrid’s – end.
Meanwhile, a lack of presence outside the stadium contributed to gangs running riot against defenceless supporters.
“It was like five hours of sheer hell, where at no point did you feel like anyone was going to do anything for you. You were just on your own,” said Liverpool fan Tony Fitzgerald.
“And if you didn’t do anything yourself, that was it. You know, you’re at the mercy of these gangs.
“It was just lawless. It was like being somewhere in a war zone.”
Unfounded hooligan fears
The report calls the policing operation “defective”.
Officers had prepared for hooliganism, despite information from Merseyside and Spanish police and the clubs that there had been “no significant issues of football-related violence” involving either set of fans in recent years.
Thousands of Liverpool supporters who went to Paris without match tickets did so to enjoy the atmosphere, not to seek entry to the stadium.
“The police, unchallenged and accepted without question by other stakeholders, adopted a model aimed at a non-existent threat from football hooligans, together with a preoccupation that ticketless supporters required a public order policing approach rather than one based upon facilities and engagement,” said the report.
Joe Blott, chair of the Spirit of Shankly Liverpool supporters’ group said: “Only the exemplary behaviour of Liverpool fans, who waited with patience and composure, prevented deaths in the dangerous crushes caused by Uefa and relevant authorities at the Stade de France.
“The collective memory and pain of the Hillsborough disaster means Liverpool fans know how to behave to avoid catastrophe.
“The similarities between things the French senate was told by ministers, and the lies told by authorities in the UK after Hillsborough, have been an enormous source of shock, anger and pain.”
What Uefa and police said
Uefa commissioned the team led by Portuguese politician Dr Tiago Brandao Rodrigues to look into the issues, with the panel also including experts and consultants from legal, policing and event-management fields, along with representatives from football fan groups.
General secretary Theodore Theodoridis said Uefa was committed to learning lessons from what went wrong.
“On behalf of Uefa, I would like to apologise most sincerely once again to all those who were affected by the events that unfolded on what should have been a celebration at the pinnacle of the club season,” he said.
“In particular, I would like to apologise to the supporters of Liverpool FC for the experiences many of them had when attending the game and for the messages released prior to and during the game which had the effect of unjustly blaming them for the situation leading to the delayed kick-off.”
Police chief Didier Lallement told the French senate last year he was sorry for authorising the use of tear gas.
“It is obviously a failure. It was a failure because people were pushed around and attacked. It was a failure because the image of the country was undermined,” he said.
The report has made 21 recommendations in an attempt to ensure “everything possible is done” to prevent any similar incident happening again at a major sporting event.
Safety and security should be at the centre of match planning, with a “facilitation and service” approach towards supporters, rather than viewing them as a potential public order problem, it said.
