The Minister of Sports and the Olympics, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, estimated on Monday on RTL that Liverpool “had left its supporters in the wild” on the occasion of the Champions League final on Saturday and, elsewhere, judged ” regrettable” the use of tear gas against families in front of the Stade de France. “The fact that the Real club has supervised the coming of its supporters to Paris to such an extent […] which contrasts radically with what the Liverpool club has done, which has left its supporters in the wild, has created a difference major, “said the new minister two days after the fiasco of the final.
Asked about the number of English spectators without tickets, she cited the figure of “30,000 to 40,000 ‘fake tickets’ and ‘no tickets’ people”. Asked specifically about the proportion of counterfeit notes, she said, “we’ll look at all that.” “We need to look at where these counterfeits are coming from,” she added. She confirmed that Liverpool had asked UEFA, who agreed, not to use the mobile app, but to have paper tickets, “a circuit of paper tickets which created spillovers”.
She judged “that the most regrettable aspect of what happened” was that tear gas was used against families and children who came to watch the final. Asked if she was “worried” about future events that France was going to organize like the Olympics, she replied that France “was able to organize very big sporting events” citing the Tour de France or the Olympics. Euro 2016. “I’m not worried, I’m very committed, very concerned that we learn absolutely all the lessons from what happened on Saturday evening to optimize everything that needs to be done in preparation for the European Cup. World of Rugby 2023 and the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2024,” she added.
At the end of the morning, a meeting is organized at the Ministry of Sports to take stock of the dysfunctions with the sports organizers, in particular the consortium of the Stade de France in the presence of the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, UEFA, or even the town hall of Saint-Denis. She spoke of “multiple responsibilities”, also citing “certainly a lack of stewards at the level of what had been planned by the French Football Federation, a problem of cramped control areas”.
