Independent Report on the UEFA Champions League Final 2022: Lessons for Venue Owners & Event Operators

The events of 28 May 2022 as Liverpool FC (“LFC") prepared to play Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League Final in Paris (“UCLF22”) have been independently investigated by UEFA, which published a critical report into its findings last month (“Report”).

The Independent Review Panel (“Panel”), led by Dr Brandão Rodrigues, set out to explore and clarify the events that took place, and in doing so, determined that there were eight failures that either caused or contributed to a “near miss” event (i.e. one which had the potential to develop into a mass fatality catastrophe) as well as the organisations accountable for the alleged failures. It identified twenty-one recommendations (page 196 onwards) aimed at optimising the safety and security standards at UEFA events, with the goal of improving services provided at football events more generally and ultimately ensuring that disasters are avoided in the future. The Report’s terms of reference can be found at Appendix I of the Report.

Whilst the Report concerns issues that arose in France where health and safety (“H&S”) laws differ to those in the UK, there are many transferable learnings and implications from a UK H&S law perspective, which all venue owners and event operators should take note of, not just those involved in football.

This article reviews the Report and looks at: