Uefa review’s devastating verdict on Paris chaos should prompt Ceferin to resign

T he review commissioned by Uefa into the appalling chaos that beset the Champions League final last May has reached devastating conclusions that in a decent, responsible culture would lead its president, Aleksander Ceferin, to resign.

The review panel’s report concludes that Uefa has “primary responsibility” for hosting a catastrophic failure of safety at the final of the competition which is its core purpose to organise, the very reason why it was founded as a confederation of Europe’s national football associations in 1954. Most recently Uefa has invested the modern-day Champions League with much grander significance than purely an elite sporting competition, presenting it as central to the European, community-rooted, ethical “model” of sport. It was the principal cause for which supporters, leagues, governments and the European Union supported Ceferin and opposed the 2021 super league breakaway, to keep the top clubs and full value of the Champions League within Europe’s “football family”.

Last season’s final at the Stade de France between the greats of Liverpool and Real Madrid was the first organised by Ceferin’s Uefa since that super league battle was won and the marvellous competition, and its glittering revenues, were secured. Yet supporters who had campaigned wholeheartedly for Uefa were put through an extended dystopian nightmare, during which Uefa also sought to disclaim its own responsibility by issuing classic instant smears alleging that the Liverpool fans were to blame.

The report repeatedly condemns this blame-shifting effort, describing it as “reprehensible”, and it was truly, spectacularly disgraceful. By making statements falsely alleging lateness and mass ticketlessness by Liverpool fans, Uefa also