Uefa bears “primary responsibility” for the chaotic scenes before last year’s Champions League final, an independent review has found.
Fans were penned in and teargassed outside Paris’s Stade de France as kick-off was delayed by 36 minutes.
Uefa and French authorities initially blamed “industrial-scale” ticket fraud – which drew widespread criticism.
The report says there is “no evidence” to support the “reprehensible” claims.
“The panel has concluded that Uefa, as event owner, bears primary responsibility for failures which almost led to disaster,” states the report, which was commissioned by Uefa after the 28 May final.
While it said there was “contributory fault” from other bodies, the findings said European governing body Uefa was “at the wheel”.
“Uefa should have retained a monitoring and oversight role [of security], to ensure it all worked. It self-evidently did not,” the report added.
Uefa commissioned the independent report three days after the match – the showpiece of European club football which Liverpool went on to lose 1-0 – took place in the French capital.
The European governing body said a “comprehensive review” would examine a number of factors that include the decision-making, responsibility and behaviour of all parties involved in the final.
The investigation was chaired by Dr Tiago Brandao Rodrigues, a Portuguese politician, with the panel also including experts and consultants from legal, policing and event-management fields, along with representatives from football fan groups.
“On behalf of Uefa, I would like to apologise most sincerely once again to all those who were affected by the events that unfolded on what should have been a celebration at the pinnacle of the club season,” Uefa general secretary Theodore Theodoridis said.
“In particular, I would like to apologise to the supporters of Liverpool for the experiences many of them had when attending the game and for the messages released prior to and during the game which had the effect of unjustly blaming them for the situation leading to the delayed kick-off.”
More to follow.