.'
Uefa accused of presenting ‘untrue’ evidence to inquiry on Champions League final chaos' - by David Conn:-
Allegations made by former operations manager Burkhalter-Lau
The actions of Zeljko Pavlica, Uefa’s head of safety, questionedwww.theguardian.com/football/2023/sep/25/uefa-accused-of-presenting-untrue-evidence-to-inquiry-on-champions-league-final-chaos
a snippet...'Uefa has been accused of presenting “completely untrue” evidence to its own independent inquiry into the near-disaster at the 2022 Champions League final, to protect its safety and security unit – headed by the president’s best friend – from criticism.
The allegations have been made by Uefa’s then operations director, Sharon Burkhalter-Lau, an events management specialist, who was second in command in the planning of the 28 May final at the Stade de France between Liverpool and Real Madrid.
The match descended into a near-fatal disaster where the safety management operation failed, and thousands of supporters suffered long static queues, crushing, dangerous policing and attacks by local thugs.
Uefa appointed a panel of experts to review the debacle, and it concluded that Uefa had “primary responsibility” because it failed to monitor and oversee the safety plans and operation in Paris. However the panel said this failure was not principally the fault of the safety and security unit whose role is to oversee safety, but of Burkhalter-Lau’s events division, because it had “marginalised” the unit.
Since 2021 the safety and security unit has been headed by Zeljko Pavlica, best friend of the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, with their relationship going back decades to their lives at home in Slovenia. Pavlica’s background is in personal bodyguard security, and his level of experience and expertise to qualify him for European football’s most senior stadium safety role has been questioned by some safety professionals.
In memos sent to Uefa’s general secretary, Theodore Theodoridis, and three other senior officials, seen by the Guardian, Burkhalter-Lau rejected as “completely untrue” Uefa’s evidence that the unit had been marginalised.
That was despite the scenes that had been developing outside for hours, Pavlica’s own staff being in the stadium’s control centre, and some of them raising alarms from as early as 5.19pm in the unit’s WhatsApp group.
Burkhalter-Lau’s allegations raise further questions about Uefa’s culture under Ceferin. After the final, the Guardian reported on serious concerns about alleged cronyism in Uefa appointments, with Pavlica and four more of Ceferin’s associates from Slovenia appointed to key positions. Uefa denied the accusation of cronyism, saying they were all “proven professionals”.
Ceferin subsequently confirmed he had been instrumental in these appointments and suggested he should be applauded for it, saying in an interview: “If I brought competent people that I trust to Uefa, that are hard-working people there … I think I am quite good in this world of football.”'
