UEFA believed to have been discriminative against wheelchair users in the Champions League

DBasia.news – UEFA was accused of “discrimination” after only 93 seats were allocated for the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid.

The 81,000-seat Stade de France has been reduced to 75,000 for the final but the lack of provision for disabled fans, only 38 for each club, has been criticized by the Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association.

UEFA claimed the small amount was for “operational reasons” but Ted Morris, the LDSA secretary, said it was unacceptable.

“I don’t think we have a Champions League final that can accommodate 500 wheelchair supporters and this is a huge opportunity,” he told the PA news agency.

“This is clearly a case of discrimination. If it’s for commercial reasons then it’s despicable.

“A lot of fans have made travel plans because you need to take the opportunity and then, lo and behold, there are 38 in the stadium that holds 81,000.

“There are 200 provided at Anfield, I think we will take 100 wheelchair users.

“I have two 10 year old boys with spina bifida sitting near me at Anfield and how do you explain to your son that you can go to Paris but you can’t go to the game? I left with huge guilt.”

UEFA said it would normally be able to allocate more but that was not possible on this occasion.

“Due to operational challenges, in particular related to changing venues for the final on a short period of time (Stade de France replaced Saint Petersburg on February 25 only), we were able to assign 93 wheelchair positions (76 were allocated to fans of both clubs),” the statement read.

“For events of this size, we usually aim to identify a higher number of positions but due to operational constraints (eg: safety, poor views, etc.) and short preparation times, it is not possible to implement an optimal solution for more wheelchair positions. “