Level Playing Field, a group working to mobilize fans' rights, attacked UEFA's organization right before the Europa League final. The group believes that the actual number of seats for the disabled at San Mames is much lower than what UEFA announced.
In reality, each team is only given 26 seats for wheelchairs and 15 seats for people with limited mobility. UEFA has previously committed to double that.
San Mames Stadium, Athletic Bilbao's home stadium, has a capacity of 53,000 seats. These include 208 seats for wheelchairs and 102 seats for fans with difficulty traveling. According to UEFA's standards guidelines, a stadium with a capacity of more than 50,000 seats should have 236 seats for wheelchairs and the same number for difficult-to-travel groups. This means that since opening in 2013, San Mames has not complied with UEFA regulations.
Another reality also shows that San Mames Stadium did not provide enough tickets for Man United and Tottenham fans, as committed to 56% of the stadium's capacity.
"It's a reality here that disabled fans are not given any priority. This is a defeat for UEFA with such an important event. We can feel the disregard for fans from the organizer. They did not use all the available capacity of the stadium but did not provide a reasonable explanation.
Regarding traveling between European countries, of course, disabled fans will have more difficulties than usual. However, being cut like this is unacceptable," said Tony Taylor, representative of Level Playing Field.
Not only Level Playing Field, the disabled fan clubs of both Man United and Tottenham are still showing their anger towards UEFA. They believe that the disabled group is being treated unfairly and is considered a redundant factor in the Europa League final.
"We understand that at each stadium, the conditions cannot be completely the same. However, San Mames could certainly provide more seats for the disabled fans of both clubs,"ick Clement, Secretary of the Manchester United disabled fans Association, shared.
Not only attacking UEFA in terms of organization, disabled fans of Man United and Tottenham are also suspecting that the San Mames stadium management has issued disabled tickets to serve other fans who are unable to buy regular tickets. Many people have threatened to take photos and record evidence if this happens in the upcoming Europa League final.
This is an unnecessary scandal for UEFA when they carried out the biggest attraction of the Europa League final ever. It is not ruled out that after the Man United - Tottenham match ends, the lawsuits between the disabled fan group and UEFA will officially begin.
