Liverpool MP Ian Byrne has urged the English Football Association to pressure UEFA President Zeljko Pavlica to address how UEFA handled the 2021-2022 Champions League final. Before the match, thousands of fans lined up for long periods, subjected to serious police misconduct and attacks by local hooligans. An independent report found that UEFA bears "primary responsibility" for the chaos that "almost led to a disaster" outside the Stade de France in Paris.
Byrne has now written to the CEO of the FA, Mark Bullingham, accusing UEFA of putting fans in grave danger and calling for the dismissal of Zeljko Pavlica, a close associate of Slovenian UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin. He stated, "Nepotism was responsible for Zeljko's appointment to such a vital position in UEFA with responsibility for fan safety - a position he was clearly unqualified to hold."
He added, "It is extremely important to remember at all times that UEFA is a continental football association, meaning the FA is part of it, and therefore the FA must hold UEFA accountable, especially in a situation where fan safety is severely endangered due to terrible management and nepotism in UEFA. Currently, this does not seem to be happening, but turning a blind eye is not an acceptable response."
This comes days after the Guardian published a report stating that UEFA was accused of providing "entirely false" evidence in its independent investigation into the 2022 final to protect its safety and security unit from criticism. Sharon Burkhalter Laux, who was the deputy leading the match and was UEFA's operations manager at the time, claimed that Pavlica and his team missed several safety briefings and failed to provide critical information for the planning process, asserting that most problems arose from the Paris police.
Byrne also noted similarities between how this event was managed and the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, where 97 football fans died and 766 were injured due to a lack of police control, stadium flaws, and overcrowding. He wrote, "The parallels with Hillsborough are eerie and terrifying at the same time. I urge the FA not to let Liverpool supporters down as they did previously in 1989. I strongly urge you, as the FA's CEO and in light of the [Guardian] report, to call for UEFA to dismiss Zeljko Pavlica and to ask UEFA President Čeferin to reconsider his position in the interest of all football fans across Europe."
