Police chief on Paris final ‘independent review’ is Uefa security officer
The Amsterdam police chief appointed to sit on Uefa’s “independent review” into the chaos at the Champions League final in Paris is a senior security officer at Uefa, raising further concerns about the independence and governance of the review.
Frank Paauw, an experienced, senior Netherlands police chief and football match commander, worked as a Uefa safety and security officer at four club finals and at the European Championship tournaments of 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016. Although he has not worked in that capacity since, his career biography, issued by the Amsterdam police, which he has headed since 2019, Paauw is still described as “senior security officer at Uefa”.
The revelation Paauw also has a long working relationship with Uefa means that all four of those appointed to assist the review’s chairman, the Portuguese MP Tiago Brandão Rodrigues, have worked for Uefa for years.
Kenny Scott, like Paauw well respected in football policing, is the former head of Uefa’s safety and security operations until he retired last year, and he has continued to work for Uefa as a matchday security officer at international matches.
The two Portuguese stadium events professionals appointed to provide administrative support to Rodrigues, Daniel Ribeiro and Luis Silva, have worked extensively for Uefa, as the Guardian has reported.
In the announcement on 1 July of these appointments on to the review of the near-disaster at the final between Liverpool and Real Madrid, Uefa provided no information on Ribeiro or Silva. It stated Paauw and Scott “have, at various times, served as Uefa security officers for individual club competition matches”, but did not mention the international games or work at the Euros, nor any ongoing work with Uefa.
Liverpool and their supporters have raised concerns about Rodrigues’s independence and relevant expertise and experience since Uefa appointed him as the review chairman without consultation on 30 May, two days after the final. In his previous capacity as education minister, which in Portugal includes responsibility for sports, Rodrigues worked closely with the
Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) whose president, Fernando Gomes, is a close ally of the Uefa president, Aleksandr Ceferin.
The former FPF chief executive Tiago Craveiro moved as recently as March to become an adviser to Ceferin at Uefa. Both Uefa and the FPF have declined to say whether Craveiro and Gomes were involved in discussions about setting up the Uefa review, or appointing Rodrigues to chair it.
The Liverpool supporters’ trust Spirit of Shankly (SoS) wrote a strong open letter to Rodrigues on Tuesday, saying it was “unacceptable” he had not yet engaged with them and emphasising questions about the Uefa connections of those assisting him. “We also remain concerned about recent revelations regarding many undeclared links, past working arrangements and relationships, all of which offers little or no confidence in trust and independence,” the letter said.
Joe Blott, the SoS chairman, said the information regarding Paauw’s relationship with Uefa had added to that concern: “We have constantly expressed doubts about the review’s independence from Uefa, and we are also concerned about why Uefa did not set out clearly in its announcement the relevant expertise of all the people appointed, and a full declaration of their connections to Uefa so that this was transparent.”
A Uefa spokesperson said: “As previously communicated, Uefa will not make any further comment on the independent review until it reaches its conclusion. We would also like to draw your attention to the review’s [1 July] press release which explicitly states: ‘Both experts [ie, Frank Paauw and Kenny Scott] have, at various times, served as Uefa security officers for individual club competition matches.’”
On Thursday in Lisbon the five experts appointed to “support” the review, including supporter representatives, the Hillsborough families’ barrister Pete Weatherby QC and the football policing expert prof Clifford Stott, are due to have their first meeting with Rodrigues to discuss the process.