UEFA is accused of providing “totally false” testimony in the Paris final investigation
UEFA has been accused of providing “completely false” evidence in a bid to protect high-ranking figures as part of its investigation into the 2022 Champions League final.
Following the near-fatal chaos at the 2022 Champions League final in Paris, UEFA has launched an independent investigation into the events at the Stade de France.In a report by the Guardian’s David Conn, UEFA was accused by its then chief operating officer, Sharon Burkhalter-Lau, of presenting “completely false” evidence to the inquiry.
The commission blamed the dangerous problems on the events department, but Burkhalter-Lau sees the fault elsewhere.The events management specialist said she could not accept that her events department was primarily responsible for the chaos and instead placed the blame on the French police.
She also denied the allegations made against her team in memos sent to UEFA officials, including Theodore Theodoridis.“The claim that the events at UEFA… marginalized the leadership of the UEFA security department is based on statements by UEFA that were false and coordinated,” Burkhalter-Lau wrote.
In January, she also wrote: “After the Paris final, we talked about the need to protect the security unit from the consequences.”She added that UEFA’s evidence that security chief Zeljko Pavlica’s unit had been taken out of action was “false”.”I now understand that there was an agreed strategy to protect the security unit which stipulated that all security matters would be communicated through project management, placing the blame for any perceived errors or omissions on Tiziano’s team ” she wrote in her note.
This was Tiziano Gaier, UEFA official in the Burkhalter-Lau department, responsible for final operations. This protection of Pavlica, who spent the evening in the VIP area and missed crucial planning meetings, once again calls into question the integrity of the organization and its president, Aleksander Ceferin.This is especially true because Ceferin was Pavlica’s best man at his wedding and the security officer was appointed to his position without having to go through a recruitment process.
UEFA’s top officials say they have changed and have learned from their mistakes. However, these accusations indicate that a culture of favoritism and the need to shift blame to others still prevails.In response to the Guardian, UEFA said:
“The group, and UEFA more generally, had numerous discussions about the events in Paris, some of which reflected divergent internal views on the events and actions of that evening. “Some of these differences are also reflected in the evidence given to the jury by various UEFA directors, evidence given in good faith and to the best of the individual’s knowledge and memory.”
