Aston Villa file complaint to UEFA over Legia Warsaw after fan violence
46 supporters of the Polish team were taken into custody by police during altercations prior to a Europa Conference
League match at Villa Park.
Due to the actions of Legia Warsaw officials and the “unprecedented violence” committed by the Polish team’s
supporters outside Villa Park, Aston Villa has lodged a complaint with UEFA.
when “90 minutes of sustained violence,” police detained 46 Legia supporters on Thursday night when 1,000 Polish
fans showed up at the stadium without their tickets for the Europa Conference League match.
In a statement released on Friday, the Birmingham club said, “This shocking behaviour followed Legia club officials’
complete lack of cooperation with West Midlands Police, Aston Villa, and UEFA throughout the day.”
Following a disturbance by Legia supporters during a game against AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands on October 5, the
Warsaw club was displeased when local officials, who license all stadium events, demanded that the number of
tickets be lowered from 1,700 to 1,000.
According to Villa’s statement on Friday, Legia Warsaw was notified four weeks prior to the game about the ticket
allocation information. However, the Polish team’s representatives had not confirmed whether they would accept
their allocation until Thursday at 4 p.m.
“This is in stark contrast to normal UEFA operational procedures,” Villa’s statement said.
The Polish club’s officials confirmed at 4pm that they would accept the allocation and then were handed the tickets
when they arrived at Villa Park at 6:16pm, Villa said.
Legia Warsaw did not immediately comment on Aston Villa’s statement on Friday. On Thursday night, they blamed
Villa for “refusing to allocate tickets to away fans”.
West Midlands Police said their investigation will include determining why the tickets were not distributed and they
will pursue charges against those arrested after four officers, a police dog and horse were injured in what they
described as “planned violence” by the away fans.
“The disorder that we encountered last night was the most severe that a lot of us have ever seen,” Assistant Chief
Constable Damian Barratt told Talk Sport radio.
“It was undoubtedly, as I say, instigated as a result of this issue related to ticket allocation,” he continued.
“That’s something I’ll be taking up with football authorities and UEFA in particular. I will be expecting some strong
decisions on their part.”
Villa won the game 2-1. The away fans section of the stadium was empty.
UEFA said it “strongly condemns the unacceptable violence” and was “in the process of gathering all official reports
from the game before deciding on potential next steps. We have no further information or other comment to make at
this stage.”
The away fans showed “enormous hostility,” according to Barratt, with some hurling flares and starting fires. The
severity of the policemen’ injuries was not disclosed by the police.
After being struck by a flare, one officer’s yellow jacket caught fire. Thankfully, his jacket was taken off promptly, and
he was unharmed, according to a statement from West Midlands Police. “After the smoke from the flare got inside
his helmet, he was later admitted to the hospital for smoke inhalation.”
According to police, the majority of the arrests were made for violent disturbance, four for “possession of a
knife/offensive weapon,” and four for assaulting emergency personnel.
All of the arrests were made by away fans, according to police on Friday, “and we’ll be working hard to charge and
remand those suspects where we can today.”
Villa “will be making further representations to UEFA in order to ensure that other clubs and police forces across
Europe are not exposed to similar serious safety risks at the hands of Legia Warsaw,” stated Chris Heck, president of
commercial operations for the team.
In 2021, there were also violent altercations between Legia supporters and police at a game in Leicester.
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