UEFA has offered its sincerest apologies to Tottenham after the north London club won its first major honour in 17 years by beating Premier League rivals Manchester United 1-0 in the 2025 Europa League final. Brennan Johnson made the difference when he pounced on a Luke Shaw blunder at the San Mames Stadium on Wednesday night, while the rest of the United defence stood statuesque, watching the situation unfold.
Despite a barrage of second-half attacks from the Red Devils, Tottenham dug in and saw out a historic win, with Ange Postecoglou delivering on his promise to win a trophy in his sophomore campaign - something the Australian proudly highlighted in his post-match interviews.
However, while a balmy midweek night in the Basque Country provided the perfect setting for Spurs’ celebrations, a mishap on UEFA’s part meant that some players missed out on receiving their winners’ medals on the night.
UEFA Apologises To Tottenham Over Medal Shortage
Son, Romero, and Bentancur missed out on winners' medals
Aleksander Ceferin, the governing body’s president, was caught by surprise during the trophy ceremony when the medals ran out before all of Ange Postecoglou’s players had received theirs as they made their way on to the podium.
It meant that the final three players - club captain Heung-min Son, Cristian Romero, and Rodrigo Bentancur - missed out on medals on Wednesday night. UEFA said in a statement, as per Guardian:
“To our great displeasure, we did not have enough medals available on stage during the trophy ceremony presentation due to an unexpected discrepancy in the player count, as more team members – including injured players – participated in the ceremony than initially anticipated. The missing medals were promptly delivered to the winning team in the dressing room, along with our sincerest apologies for the oversight.”
The European governing body said the clubs had been informed that only 30 medals would be presented on stage to each club. It also said 20 further medals were given to the club after the ceremony for distribution to players and staff. And to further UEFA's blushes, all eight officials received their medals on time.
They will now, however, have received their medals in time for their trophy parade, which will start at 5.30pm on Friday at Fore Street in Edmonton Green, before travelling down the High Road past Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before it concludes in the stadium’s service yard on Northumberland Park.