France’s former interior minister Gérald Darmanin has publicly apologised to Liverpool football fans for wrongly blaming them for the chaos at the 2022 Champions League final in Paris.
The Stade de France incident saw fans tear-gassed, mugged, and caught in dangerous crushes — initially blamed on supporters holding fake tickets.
Speaking in a YouTube interview, Darmanin called the event “the biggest failure” of his career. He admitted he had been “led astray by preconceptions,” wrongly assuming English hooliganism would be the main threat, when in fact gangs of local criminals were responsible for much of the disorder.
“I apologise now to Liverpool supporters. They were quite right to be hurt,” Darmanin said. “Our security arrangements were wrong.”
His comments mark a shift from the original claims by French authorities, which were later debunked by a UEFA-commissioned report.
Now serving as justice minister, Darmanin also touched on broader issues of public safety in France, stating “there is no longer any safe place” in the country — a comment that drew criticism from political opponents, including the far-right National Rally party.
Darmanin, considered a potential candidate to succeed Emmanuel Macron in 2027, acknowledged his presidential ambitions, saying: “That does not mean I am going to be a candidate, but I do have ambitions for the country.”