Amélie Oudéa-Castéra doubled down on previous claims of fake tickets.
France’s Sports Minister has claimed that Liverpool fans without tickets were the cause of the problems outside the ground ahead of the Champions League final, between Liverpool and Real Madrid claiming that anywhere between ’30-40,000 fans had fake tickets.’
Amélie Oudéa-Castéra blamed a “mass gathering” of supporters outside the Stade de France Stadium in Paris for the chaos, which saw thousands of fans denied entry into the stadium. UEFA also cited the use of ‘fake tickets’ as the reason behind the problems.
French Sports Minister claims ’30-40,000 fans had fake tickets’ for Champions League final.
In an interview with French radio, she said: “What we really have to bear in mind is that what happened, first of all, was this mass gathering of the British supporters of the Liverpool club, without tickets, or with counterfeit tickets.
“When there are that many people by the entrance to the stadium, there will be people trying to force their way in through the doors.
“The fact that the Real Madrid club has supervised the coming of its supporters to Paris to such an extent, by scheduling buses from the airport and organising everything from start to finish — which contrasted sharply with what the Liverpool club did, letting its supporters out in the wild — made a huge difference.”
🗣️ "30-40,000 people without tickets or with fake tickets."
Amelia Oudea-Castera, the French Sports Minister, on the scenes outside the Stade de France on Saturday night 👇 pic.twitter.com/k3o2oxsxWV
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) May 30, 2022
French Interior Minister claims that 70 per cent of tickets were fake.
Supporters were also subject to the use of heavy-handed tactics from French police, including the use of teargas and pepper spray in an attempt to disperse the crowd.
The game was delayed by 36 minutes as a result of the chaos, and the UK government has described the police response as “deeply concerning” and have urged for an inquiry.
Oudéa-Castéra was speaking ahead of a meeting with the French sports ministry, UEFA and the local authorities which was set to take place on Monday.
French Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin, meanwhile, thanked the police for their work inside and outside the stadium, bizarrely claiming that they were able to “avoid drama,” while also suggesting that 70 per cent of the tickets that entered the stadium were not real.
🗣 "There was massive fraud to an industrial level and organisation of fake tickets. 70% of tickets were fake tickets coming into Stade de France."
French Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin reveals the extent of fake tickets that made it into the #UCLFinal pic.twitter.com/s8Xg3iKuxf
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) May 30, 2022
“It was noted there was massive fraud on an industrial scale and organisation for fake tickets because the pre-filtering by the Stade de France and the French Football Federation saw that 70% tickets were fake tickets coming into the stadium,” he said.
The French Sports Ministry also revealed that fans would be entitled to compensation of up to €2,700, but it is unclear as to who will meet that criteria.
