Real Madrid Reject ‘Insufficient’ Uefa Refund Plan

Real Madrid say Uefa’s proposal to reimburse some fans who attended last year’s Champions League final is “insufficient” and have demanded all supporters should be compensated.

An independent report found Uefa bears “primary responsibility” for chaotic scenes that “almost led to disaster” outside the Stade de France in Paris.

Real Madrid say they will not work with Uefa’s “limited” repayment scheme.

The club want Uefa to “rectify and assume full responsibility”.

Uefa told BBC Sport the compensation scheme was “fair and accurately reflects the relative problems faced by fans on the night”.

On Tuesday, European football’s governing body announced it would refund fans who had tickets for the final, which was played between Madrid and Liverpool on 28 May, in specific areas of the stadium.

Liverpool fans were penned in and tear gassed outside as kick-off was delayed by 36 minutes.

The report, commissioned by Uefa and released last month, said it was “remarkable no one lost their life”.

Which fans will get a refund & what have Real Madrid and Uefa said?

Uefa said the refund scheme covers all of the Liverpool ticket allocation – just over 19,000 fans – as well as other supporters “most affected” regardless of which team they supported.

Real Madrid, in a response released on Thursday, said all ticket holders at the Stade de France should be compensated.

“All the fans experienced an unacceptable delay in the start of the match,” the Spanish club said.

“In addition, there was unacceptable insecurity both in accessing and leaving the stadium, as well as additional harm such as theft, assaults and threats.”

Uefa plans to give refunds to those fans who:

  • had tickets for gates A, B, C, X, Y and Z at the Stade de France – the area where many Liverpool supporters were bottle-necked and faced overcrowding issues
  • who did not enter the stadium before the match was supposed to kick-off (21:00 local time), according to the stadium’s access control data
  • who were not able to enter the stadium at all
  • who purchased accessibility tickets.

Real Madrid said it had discussed the refund scheme with Uefa and “trusted at all times” the compensation for all fans would be reflective of the conclusions made by the independent report.

“Unfortunately we consider the Uefa proposal insufficient,” they said.

“The content of the report, which was requested by Uefa itself, highlights all the fans who attended the final were victims of Uefa’s poor organisation and saw their personal safety compromised.

“Whether being able to access the stadium or not, or having done so at the scheduled time, which in any case was due to the exceptional behaviour of the fans of the two clubs, the reality is that all the fans suffered.

“For this reason, Real Madrid has decided not to cooperate with the limited compensation scheme promoted by Uefa, which we ask to rectify and assume full responsibility.”

In response, Uefa said Real Madrid had “declined” to contribute to the planning of the refund scheme despite several requests.

It added the Spanish club were the “only party which did not co-operate” with the independent review.