The final of the Football Champions League, which opposed Liverpool to Real Madrid, Saturday May 28 at the Stade de France (Seine-Saint-Denis), will long leave a bitter taste for supporters of the English club. More than the defeat of the “Reds” (1-0), the scenes of chaos experienced around the Dionysian enclosure came to taint the memory of a day that had started with festive airs in the streets of Paris.
A veritable red tide had invaded the capital and, in particular, the fan-zone installed in the Cours de Vincennes, in the 12e borough. It was always full as the match approached: while 20,000 Britons had the precious ticket to the Stade de France, about twice as many watched the final in front of the giant screens set up for the occasion or in Parisian bars.
“Even without a ticket, it’s so worth it”
An impressive number, but not surprising. It is in the culture of the “Scousers” to support their team in the four corners of Europe. With or without the prospect of going to the stadium. Rohan Sood, 22, from London, assured Agence France-Presse even before kick-off: “Even without a ticket, it’s so worth it. » After all, doesn’t the club anthem say “you’ll never walk alone” (“You will never walk alone”)?
A total of 70,000 Reds supporters were expected in the capital this weekend. Since Paris replaced Saint-Petersburg at short notice, deprived of competition following Moscow’s decision to invade Ukraine, the preparatory meetings had been linked to define the host system for the meeting.
More than for any other sport, football unleashes passions and the holding of an event of this scale poses constraints for the organizers, from the management of the security perimeter around the stadium to the regulation of the sale of alcohol including setting up and maintaining fan-zones.
According to the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, and the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, there is a link between the massive transhumance of the English in Paris and the incidents which occurred around the stadium. “Thirty thousand to 40,000 supporters found themselves at the Stade de France either without a ticket or with falsified tickets”, reaffirmed Mr. Darmanin, Monday, May 30, after a ministerial meeting.
Numbers “fanciful”, swiped Ronan Evain on Twitter, general manager of Football Supporters Europe, an association accredited as an observer of the matches with the Union of European Football Associations, and himself present on the spot on Saturday.
The version of the French authorities is undermined by the accounts and testimonies of journalists – The Athletic, DW, Sky Sports, BBC – having attended the events. Police officers from Liverpool, deployed on the spot as observers and liaison officers, further pointed out that “the vast majority” supporters “behaved in an exemplary manner, arriving early (…) and queuing” as requested.
Violent clashes in Tirana
The massive displacements are not specific to the fans of the “Reds”, nor only to the English supporters. On May 25, the National Arena in Tirana (21,000 seats) hosted the final of the Europa League Conference between AS Roma and Feyenoord Rotterdam. More than 100,000 Italian and Dutch supporters headed for Albania. The day before the meeting, violence broke out in the city. About twenty police officers were injured, including one with a knife, by interposing themselves between the two camps. Ten supporters went to hospitals for treatment, Albanian police reported.
A few days earlier, on May 19, around 130,000 Germans and Scots had traveled to Seville, Spain, for the duel between Eintracht Frankfurt and Glasgow Rangers in another final, that of the Europa League. Despite the arrest of five German supporters after an altercation with opposing fans before kick-off, no major violence was reported. On the other hand, some Scots claimed to have experienced a “terrible experience” at the Sanchez-Pizjuan stadium, due to the overzealousness of the security system. As the temperature hovered around 40°C, many of them were deprived of water and food, a situation that led to fainting.
This transhumance brought back some memories to the Andalusians: in 2003, more than 80,000 fans of Celtic, the other Glasgow club, had joined the city by road or by air to experience the UEFA Cup final between their team and FC Porto. Already, most had come without a place for the match, sometimes ready to sleep in the streets.
Particularly marked among the British, this phenomenon of travel, without a ticket, has been reinforced in recent years. “The fundamental difference over the past twenty years has been the democratization of low-cost flights: this promotes travel by supporters. Today, beyond the presence and entertainment in the stands, mass travel is clearly becoming a source of pride,” observed Mr. Evain near the World before the final at the Stade de France.
The observation is shared by the author and football historian David Goldblatt, not surprised by the red tide of tens of thousands of Liverpool fans in Paris. “There has been a huge trend for two decades among young English and Scottish people to take cheap planes and go drinking in a city for a weekend. Add to that the football, now on a giant screen… It’s definitely a different experience to having in a pub in the north of the UK,” argues the Londoner.
One thing is certain, it is not likely to happen this fall, during the World Cup in Qatar. Without a ticket, it is impossible to book accommodation on the official platform or to request your Hayya Card serving as a visa.