On 28 May 2022, a series of incidents around the Stade de France led to severe crowd management issues and many acts of delinquency before and after the Champions League final. This paper aims to provide an inter-organisational sociological analysis of this failure. We draw attention to the collaboration (or lack of) in developing the transport plan for the supporters, calibrating the security arrangements, and then adapting collectively to deal with the unexpected. Our qualitative approach reveals basic crises components: the issuance of paper tickets and its unexpected consequences; the insufficient attention paid to information about Liverpool supporters; a police deployment focused on maintaining order and the heavy-handed reception of England fans; the lack of consultation between stakeholders and the multiscale difficulties entailed in terms of sensemaking. The necessary information was actually available to players, who had the skills to anticipate most consequences. However, the analysis highlights the scattered nature of these information and of the necessary expertise to understand the unfolding of the critical event. The centralisation of power meant that a number of key-decisions were not discussed between stakeholders. Thus, a number of important choices were made without considering the consequences on other organisations, placing some in untenable situations.

On 28 May 2022, a series of incidents around the Stade de France led to severe crowd management issues and many acts of delinquency before and after the Champions League final. This paper aims to provide an inter-organisational sociological analysis of this failure. We draw attention to the collaboration (or lack of) in developing the transport plan for the supporters, calibrating the security arrangements, and then adapting collectively to deal with the unexpected. Our qualitative approach reveals basic crises components: the issuance of paper tickets and its unexpected consequences; the insufficient attention paid to information about Liverpool supporters; a police deployment focused on maintaining order and the heavy-handed reception of England fans; the lack of consultation between stakeholders and the multiscale difficulties entailed in terms of sensemaking. The necessary information was actually available to players, who had the skills to anticipate most consequences. However, the analysis highlights the scattered nature of these information and of the necessary expertise to understand the unfolding of the critical event. The centralisation of power meant that a number of key-decisions were not discussed between stakeholders. Thus, a number of important choices were made without considering the consequences on other organisations, placing some in untenable situations.