Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin has admitted “not everything was perfect” for supporters on the Champions League last in Istanbul.
Manchester City supporters reported points with transport to the out-of-town Ataturk Stadium for the showpiece match on June 10 towards Inter Milan, in addition to a scarcity of bogs and restricted entry to water.
Football Supporters Europe is gathering fan accounts from Istanbul with the intention to compile a report back to current to Uefa.
Ceferin, talking on the European Football Fans Congress in Manchester, stated this 12 months’s males’s and ladies’s membership competitors finals “proved Uefa had learned from past mistakes”, however he added: “We’re well aware that in Istanbul not everything was perfect and I’m certainly not playing down the problems encountered by some.
“But let us continue working together to improve what we can improve. I’m thinking in particular of transport links, to better understanding the hosting of disabled supporters and access to water and toilets for everyone.
“I can assure you that next year’s Champions League final at Wembley and Euro 2024 in Germany will be a unique experience for fans.”
Close to the beginning of his handle, Ceferin referenced the extraordinarily critical points which confronted Liverpool followers specifically on the 2022 Champions League last in Paris.
An impartial report into the chaos on the match within the French capital discovered Uefa bore “primary responsibility” for what nearly turned “a mass fatality catastrophe”.
Ceferin stated: “Given what some of you experience recently, I would understand if I got a cold reception.
“I also came here to say sorry. We would love to erase events that happened last year. Everyone welcomed the decision to move the Champions League final from St Petersburg to Paris and we know what happened.
“Good intentions are often not enough, we know that and we are sorry for that.
“I think we should roll up our sleeves and ensure that attending a football match remains a unique and unforgettable experience for everyone.”
Ceferin stated he had additionally come to ask a favour of supporters.
“Our relationship cannot be one-sided,” the Slovenian stated.
He stated Uefa wanted assist to do away with the “idiots” who “hide in the ground” and behave abusively.
“Let’s work together to put our house in order and ban from stadiums anyone who comes to a stadium not for the love of football, but with hatred for others,” he stated.
Ceferin once more thanked followers for his or her essential position in inflicting the collapse of the European Super League in 2021.
“You were not just the 12th man, you were the first name on the team sheet for a match that lasted not 90 minutes, but 48 hours,” he added.
“You saved football, and for that football lovers will be grateful forever.”
Ceferin additionally stated fan strain – together with lobbying from Europe’s home leagues – had been key in limiting the enlargement of the Champions League’s new league section from 2024-25 to eight matches as an alternative of 10. He stated the transfer had price golf equipment “hundreds of millions of euros” however stated Uefa was sticking with it as a result of “it is the right thing to do”.
Source: www.impartial.co.uk
