UEFA Apologises After Several Tottenham Hotspur Players Miss Out on Europa League Winners Medals

Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester United concluded the 2024/25 UEFA Europa League finals with Brennan Johnson scoring the goal in the first half, which ultimately decided the match. Spurs claimed their first trophy in 17 years, ending a massive dry spell. But as the players, staff, and fans started celebrating in grand style, confusion clouded the trophy ceremony and the medal distribution ceremony as some Tottenham Hotspur players did not receive their winners' medals due to a discrepancy from UEFA.

These players were Son Heung-Ming, Cristian Romero, and Rodrigo Bentancur. This error was due to the fact that UEFA allocates 50 winners' medals, out of which 30 are given during the ceremony and 20 are delivered to the club later. However, Tottenham Hotspur brought out many of their injured players as well and exceeded their initial player count, which was 24. The likes of James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, who was on crutches, and Timo Werner, all of whom are injured players, were dressed in full kits and received the medals, leaving out a few players who actually played the match empty-handed temporarily.

However, the medals were promptly delivered to the players soon concluding a very eventful and iconic night for Tottenham Hotspur. The newly crowned UEFA Europa League winners are set to carry out an open-top bus parade around the streets of North London, and the parade's duration is set to be somewhere between 60 and 90 minutes. A staging area is going to be erected outside the stadium on Paxton Terrace to host the players, manager, coaching staff, and the UEFA Europa League trophy for the fans.

UEFA’s Apology to Spurs for Medal Shortage

Soon after the winners' medals fiasco, UEFA said in a statement that they apologize for not having enough medals on stage during the trophy ceremony presentation due to an unexpected discrepancy in the player count, due to more team members, including injured players, participating in the ceremony than initially expected. They further stated that "The missing medals were promptly delivered to the winning team in the dressing room, along with our ­sincerest apologies for the oversight.”