The Sunday Times June 5, 2022 7wife, Brigita, who won silver in the
100m hurdles at the 1996 Olympics,
has said the families have known
each other for “decades”. They live in
Nyon, Switzerland, where Uefa has its
headquarters.
Pavlica is a former police special
agent who worked for the
Yugoslavian and Slovenian
governments as a personal security
guard for two prime ministers. He
was appointed security and integrity
officer at NZS, the Slovenian FA, in
September 2012. He oversaw two
games against England at Ljubljana’s
Stozice Stadium, in 2015 and 2016,
both of which were “delivered
flawlessly in very challenging
conditions,” a NZS spokesman said.
A LinkedIn account under
Pavlica’s name listed his subsequent
Uefa role but no other employment
history. It was deactivated after
enquiries by The Sunday Times.
On Saturday, speaking to 24UR
before the final, Pavlica outlined the
scale of the security measures. “We
want to encourage all those who have
tickets to come to the stadium as
soon as possible,” he said. “They are
trying to create a safe and welcoming
environment for everyone.”
The 36-minute delay was blamed
on Liverpool fans arriving late but
video footage showed French police
using tear gas on fans arriving hours
before kick-off, who were unable to
gain access with valid tickets.
Uefa’s regulations state that the
“match organiser is responsible for
liaison with public authorities in the
host country/city to ensure that they
work towards implementation of the
measures contained in these
regulations”. In conjunction with the
police commander for the match and
the safety and security officer, the
match organiser decides what time
the stadium gates are opened to
spectators through consideration of
factors including entry capacity,
turnstile flow rates, segregation
strategy and “any circumstances for a
particular match that require a more
exhaustive search regime”.
The regulations also state that
screening “must be carried out
sensibly and effectively” and “do not
become the cause of undue delay or
create unnecessary tension”.
Uefa say police from the host
country are responsible for security
and that it is unable to interfere in
operations. Uefa added it does not
sign off safety and security measures
put in place by public authorities and
that the French FA was responsible
for security at the final.
During the interview with Vecer,
Pavlica was asked whether England
had the biggest problem with
hooliganism. “No, their problems
moved to the streets,” he replied.
“When they had accidents, deaths,
riots years ago, the country strongly
defended football, and with law and
penalties have removed violence
from stadiums. But they still have
problems with hooligans outside.”
Now, the actions of Uefa are being
scrutinised after a year in which their
head of security has watched three
big events descend into chaos.before the match between England
and Italy. An independent review
found evidence of “collective failure”
and a series of “near misses”. Less
than a year on, another Uefa event is
at the centre of an investigation.
Uefa said Pavlica “was a natural
successor of Mr Scott” when he
“announced his unexpected
retirement”. Uefa say Scott’s
responsibilities for the tournament
were split between three security
officers, including Pavlica, who had
worked closely with him.
A LinkedIn account under Scott’s
name records an appointment as
non-executive director of Raven
Controls, a Glasgow-based company
specialising in emergency
communication for event and venue
management, in the same month he
left Uefa. Raven Controls said Scott
was not available for comment.
In 2018, Pavlica explained the role
of Uefa’s head of safety at a big game.
He told Vecer, a Slovenian
newspaper: “Before you go to the
match, you get an analysis of the
history of incidents, groups of people
who may appear there, and a report
on the stadium’s specifics.
“I conduct a security meeting the
day before the match, where we
review in detail how security is
organised, how many security guards
there are, where they will be, what
are the crossings, accesses. I also do a
detailed inspection at the stadium.”
Pavlica has had a long-standing
friendship with Ceferin, having met
him while at the gym. In Slovenian
media they are described as “best
friends”. Ceferin was best man at
Pavlica’s wedding in 2018. Pavlica’sIn the hours before chaos ensued
outside Stade de France at last week’s
Champions League final, Aleksander
Ceferin, the Uefa president, stood in
front of Slovenian television cameras
and spoke of sleepless nights.
“There are only 1,000 police
officers,” Ceferin told 24UR. “The
responsibility is great. The situation
can be very dangerous. We haven’t
slept much in recent days.”
Alongside Ceferin was Zeljko
Pavlica, his long-time friend. Ceferin
was the best man at his wedding but,
on this occasion, Pavlica was present
as Uefa’s head of security.
“The Super Bowl is not even
close,” Pavlica said of arrangements
for the final between Liverpool and
Real Madrid. “The preparation
process takes place one year earlier.
The closer we are to the final date,
the more intensive the preparations.”
Within hours, Pavlica was
witnessing the third Uefa event in the
14 months since he was promoted to
head of security to descend into
mayhem. After chaos at the finals of
Euro 2020, at Wembley last July, and
the Europa League in Seville last
month, fans in Paris were packed into
long queues and tear-gassed by
French police as they attempted to
gain entry to the stadium in ugly
scenes that Uefa described as
Meet Uefa’s head
of security... who
had its president
Ceferin as best man
Zeljko Pavlica has been in
charge of three showpiece
events that have descended
into chaos, writes Tom Roddy
‘They removed
violence from the
stadiums. But
they still have
hooligans outside’“frightening and distressing” in a
public apology issued on Friday
night. The statement came six days
after the final and hours after Real
Madrid joined Liverpool in
demanding answers.
Uefa initially blamed Liverpool
fans for their late arrival, leading to
the 36-minute delay to kick-off, but
Real backed the Merseyside club in
calling for “explanations in order to
determine those responsible for
leaving the fans abandoned and
defenceless”. Real also questioned
why Stade de France was chosen to
replace St Petersburg, which was
stripped of the final after the Russian
invasion of Ukraine.
Uefa have now commissioned an
inquiry, which will be led by Dr Tiago
Brandão Rodrigues — a controversial
appointment that Liverpool have
questioned after The Times reported
how Dr Rodrigues had worked
closely with Tiago Craveiro, a former
Portuguese FA official who is now a
senior adviser to Ceferin.
Pavlica joined European football’s
governing body full-time in
November 2016, two months after
Ceferin was elected president, and
worked as an adviser in the safety
and security department for four and
a half years. Pavlica had been an
external Uefa safety and securityofficer since 2014 and was appointed
to a permanent job that had not been
advertised. “It is not uncommon that
the proven external staff is invited to
join Uefa on a part-time or
permanent basis, depending on the
organisation’s needs,” Uefa said.
Kenny Scott was his boss for the
majority of that period. A former
chief superintendent in Glasgow,
serving with Strathclyde police for
more than 30 years, Scott worked as
head of security at Rangers and
launched a consultancy business
before being appointed by Uefa.
Scott left Uefa in February last
year, four months before the start of
the European Championship final
that featured serious crowd trouble
inside and outside Wembley StadiumLiverpool fans
with valid
tickets are
denied access
to the stadiumPavlica and Ceferin
pictured with Davor
Suker, the former
Croatia striker, right,
at an event in 2020IN NEWS
British police chief
takes aim at French
use of tear gas
Page 16