Paris 2024 face tough questions after UEFA Champions League ‘fiasco’

The fallout of last weekend’s UEFA Champions Leagues final between Real Madrid and Liverpool continue to expand with concerns over crowd control and cyber-security of event ticketing.

The frightful scenes, which saw fans scaling fences to enter Stade de France, and clashing with police, did not inspire confidence for a city set to host the Olympics in two years.

Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris Organizing Committee for the 2024 Summer Games lamented “we are going to face multiple challenges like what happened this weekend,” per Agence France-Presse.

However the regrettable weekend also shows a path forward in addressing the multiple issues which occurred.

“When there is an event like this happened on Saturday, inevitably it challenges and we have to learn all the lessons”

“We must recognize that there is expertise in this country and those who have this expertise must be associated with this system and this expertise must not be called into question by the incidents of Saturday.” Estanguet told Agence France-Presse.

Newly appointed Minister of Sport, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra who visited the Organizing Committee headquarters for the first time this week echoed Estanguet’s confidence by pointing to logistic co-ordination that the Spanish supporters followed.

“The fact that the Real Madrid club [had] supervised the [arrival] of its supporters to Paris to such an extent, by scheduling buses from the airport and organizing everything from start to finish — which contrasted sharply with what the Liverpool club did.” Oudéa-Castéra told RTL.

Today, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra will appear before the Senate to explain the events that occurred during the Champions League final. She will face tough questions from both sides of the political aisle about next years rugby World Cup and Paris24. Unprepared crowd control measures and accusations of police brutality have been levied against Paris officials.

“I see my role as a role as a facilitator for all the stakeholders, I want everyone’s roles to be clarified,” Oudéa-Castéra said.

“Success would be an irreproachable Games in terms of both security and budget”.

Another mitigating circumstance over the weekend which delayed the start of the match and led to the crowd control issues were counterfeit tickets being used as fans blocked many entrances as a result.

Both Oudéa-Castéra and Estanguet are confident in the security logistics for the games.

“A year ago, we signed a security protocol with the state outlining the numbers of police necessary for the organization of the Games, the role of each one, between what Paris 2024 must do, but also the forces of order, the Ministry of the Interior, the army, the local police.”

“By 2024 we will have been working on this for five years, we will be ready,” said Estanguet.

Estanguet also noted that 20,000 private police agents have been hired as contractors to add another layer of security for Paris24.