The chaos surrounding the Stade de France at the Champions League final has raised concerns in France about the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Various politicians reacted critically to the inadequate organization around the football final between Real Madrid and Liverpool (1-0).
The match started more than half an hour later than planned, because thousands of English supporters did not enter the stadium. Police fired tear gas when some football fans climbed the fences around the stadium and forced their way inside.
“A disgrace to France,” writes former presidential candidate Nicolas Dupont-Aignan Twitter† Nathalie Loiseau, a Frenchwoman who sits in the European Parliament on behalf of President Emmanuel Macron’s party, shared on Twitter TV images of the disturbances.
“An observation: we are not yet ready for the Paris 2024 Games,” reports Louiseau. “What I hope: that we are now aware of this and that the state, the city and the organizers will really work together.”
According to the European football association UEFA, the problems arose because many Liverpool fans turned out to have false tickets. As a result, they did not get through the entrance gates and that led to long queues outside the stadium.
Police threw tear gas at Liverpool fans.
Police threw tear gas at Liverpool fans. Photo: Getty Images
Le Pen calls for parliamentary inquiry
The French authorities also blame the English supporters. “The attempts by thousands of English fans to get into the stadium through burglary or fraud have made the job of the stewards and police officers very difficult,” said Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, France’s sports minister. “Violence has no place in the stadiums.”
Other politicians believe that the French government has made mistakes itself. Marine Le Pen, who lost out to Macron in France’s presidential election last month, called on Sunday for a parliamentary inquiry to find out how things could have gone so wrong.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, also a presidential candidate, spoke of a “complete failure” of the security services. “Thousands of fake tickets have been sold and nobody noticed.” French police reported that one person has been arrested for trying to sell 50 counterfeit tickets. Liverpool club management has asked for an investigation into the cause of the chaos.