Champions League final: Real Madrid say Uefa compensation scheme is 'insufficient'

Real Madrid say Uefa’s proposal to reimburse some fans who attended last year’s Champions League final is “insufficient” and have demanded all supporters should be compensated.

An independent report found Uefa bears “primary responsibility” for chaotic scenes that “almost led to disaster” outside Paris’ Stade de France.

Real Madrid say they will not work with with Uefa’s “limited” repayment scheme.

The club want Uefa to “rectify and assume full responsibility”.

On Tuesday, the European governing body announced it would refund fans who had tickets for the final, which was played between Real Madrid and Liverpool on 28 May, in specific areas of the stadium.

Uefa said the refund scheme “covers all of the Liverpool FC ticket allocation for the final, ie 19,618 tickets”.

Fans were penned in and teargassed outside as kick-off was delayed by 36 minutes.

The report, commissioned by Uefa and released last month, said it was “remarkable no one lost their life”.

In a response released on Wednesday, Real Madrid said: “The fact is that all the fans experienced an unacceptable delay in the start of the match.

“In addition, there was unacceptable insecurity both in accessing and leaving the stadium, as well as additional harm such as theft, assaults and threats.”

BBC Sport has contacted Uefa for further comment.

Uefa plans to give refunds to those fans who:

  • had tickets for gates A, B, C, X, Y and Z at the Stade de France – the area where many Liverpool supporters were bottlenecked and faced overcrowding issues
  • who did not enter the stadium before the match was supposed to kick-off (21:00 local time), according to the stadium’s access control data
  • who were not able to enter the stadium at all
  • who purchased accessibility tickets

Real Madrid said it had discussed the refund scheme with Uefa and “trusted at all times” the compensation for all fans would be reflective of the conclusions made by the independent report.

“Unfortunately we consider the Uefa proposal insufficient,” they said.

“The content of the report, which was requested by Uefa itself, highlights all the fans who attended the final were victims of Uefa’s poor organisation and saw their personal safety compromised.

“Whether being able to access the stadium or not, or having done so at the scheduled time, which in any case was due to the exceptional behaviour of the fans of the two clubs, the reality is that all the fans suffered.

“For this reason, Real Madrid has decided not to cooperate with the limited compensation scheme promoted by Uefa, which we ask to rectify and assume full responsibility.”

Original article published 09.03.2023 on the BBC Sport website.

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