UEFA has been charged with providing “completely untrue” testimony to the investigation into the 2022 Champions League final in order to shield important individuals.
When the 2022 Champions League final in Paris descended into near-fatal mayhem, UEFA instituted an independent investigation into what happened at the Stade de France.
According to a report by David Conn of the Guardian, UEFA has now been charged with providing “completely untrue” testimony to the investigation by Sharon Burkhalter-Lau, its former operations director.
The panel blamed the events division for the hazardous issues, but Burkhalter-Lau believes there are other parties to blame.
The specialist in event management claimed she was unable to acknowledge that her events section was mostly to blame for the mayhem and placed the blame squarely on the French police.
Additionally, in memoranda submitted to UEFA officials, including Theodore Theodoridis, she denied the allegations made against her team.
The notion that “Uefa Events senior management marginalized the Uefa security unit” is based on incorrect and coordinated comments made by Uefa, according to Burkhalter-Lau’s article.
She also noted in January that “Following the Paris final, we discussed that we must protect the security unit from the fallout.”
The proof provided by UEFA that Zeljko Pavlica’s unit had been excluded, she continued, was “untrue.
“I now understand that there has been an agreed strategy to protect the security unit by stating that all safety and security matters would be communicated via project management, which places the blame for any perceived errors or omissions on Tiziano’s team,” she said in her memo.
This was a reference to Tiziano Gaier, a member of the UEFA staff working under Burkhalter-Lau who was in charge of the closing procedures.
This protection of Pavlica, who spent the evening in the VIP section and missed UEFA is accused of providing “totally false” testimony in the Paris final investigation planning sessions, raises further concerns about the organization’s integrity and those of its leader, Aleksander Ceferin.
This is particularly true given that Ceferin served as Pavlica’s best man at his wedding and that the security guard was appointed to his post without going through the hiring process.
High-ranking UEFA officials claim they have reformed and taken lessons from their mistakes. These allegations show that cronyism and the desire to place blame on others remain prevalent, nevertheless.