In recent years, several incidents have occurred at major football events where authorities have been heavily criticised by the general public, the media, academics and supporters for breaching the rights of football fans.

The 2022 Champions League Final in Paris is the most high-profile example, where Liverpool fans experienced difficulties travelling to the stadium, encountered crushing as they waited to get in and were subjected to tear gas fired by police.

Following reviews of the incident, initial criticism of supporters was replaced by complaints about the behaviour of police and stadium security, refocusing attention on the human rights of football fans.

Football authorities have since been forced to respond to pressure from advocacy groups such as the Sport and Rights Alliance and Football Supporters Europe. Uefa is the first football federation to include clauses related to human rights as part of its bidding process for Euro 2024, including requirements that potential hosts must “"proactively address human rights risks”.

Uefa, alongside the German Football Association – Deutscher Fussball Bund (DFB) – and the Euro 2024 GmbH (a joint venture of Uefa and DFB) published their human rights declaration for the Euro 2024 tournament in November 2023. In it, Uefa and partners state that: “We all commit to jointly contribute to a tournament that highlights democracy, respect, equity and the promotion and protection of human........

© The Conversation