UEFA have take the decision to refund all Liverpool fans’ tickets from the 2022 Champions League final.
This comes after a review concluded that a catalogue of organisational failures “almost led to a disaster” outside the Stade de France.
The refund scheme covers all of the Liverpool allocation – 19,618 tickets – with supporters receiving the full cost of their ticket back from European football’s governing body, with prices ranging from £59.40 up to £585.70 for a seat at the incident-hit final in Paris last May.
Liverpool were involved in the process that led to this decision, having influence on discussions from the start.
The refund comes after their fans were indiscriminately sprayed with tear gas leading to crushes around the stadium before the game, but were initially blamed by UEFA and the French government for causing the disturbances.
Both later rowed back on those claims with a UEFA-commissioned report later praising their conduct, and saying the organisational failures from the two governing bodies could have had catastrophic consequences.
The final, which Real Madrid won 1-0, was delayed by 38 minutes due to the crowd issues, with fans inside the stadium told a “security issue” was to blame for the late running.
UEFA apologised to Liverpool in February and promised “a special refund scheme for fans”, which the organisation then announced on Tuesday.
Some Real Madrid fans will also be eligible for refunds, with anyone who did not access the stadium before the originally scheduled kick-off time – or at all – among those able to claim.
UEFA general secretary Theodore Theodoridis said: “We have taken into account a huge number of views expressed both publicly and privately and we believe we have devised a scheme that is comprehensive 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.”
