UEFA speaks out about Son Heung Min's lack of medals

After defeating Man Utd 1-0 in the Europa League final, Tottenham Hotspur officially won their first title in 17 years. According to the regulations, the Europa League champion and runner-up both receive 50 medals. However, after the final match in the early morning of May 22, UEFA only prepared 30 medals for each team on stage, leading to some players not having medals.

Fans caught Son Heung Min lifting the Cup without a medal after the Europa League final on the evening of May 21 (Photo: Getty).

While awarding the championship team, the camera accidentally captured the image of UEFA president, Aleksander Ceferin, looking surprised when there were not enough medals for the last 3 players: Cristian Romero, Son Heung Min and Rodrigo Bentancur.

Meanwhile, players who missed the match due to injury, such as James Maddison and Timo Werner, also received their own winners' medals. Even Dejan Kulusevski, who had to use crutches to reach the podium, was seen celebrating with a medal around his neck.

The incident was discovered by fans and quickly spread on social networks. UEFA immediately issued an announcement and apologized to Tottenham players.

"We are very unhappy that there were not enough medals on stage during the award ceremony. The reason was an unexpected difference in the number of players. More team members attended the ceremony than originally planned, including injured players.

The missing medals were presented to the Tottenham players immediately afterwards, inside the dressing room, along with our most sincere apologies," UEFA announced on May 22.

Immediately after the ceremony, UEFA brought in 20 more medals to present to the players and staff of the team. At the end of the day, all three Tottenham players showed off their medals.

"I wasn't registered but they said 50 medals per team, which caused a misunderstanding," Regulion said.

To celebrate their first title in 17 years, Tottenham Hotspur will hold a trophy parade with their fans. The ceremony will take place at 5:30pm (local time) on 23 May and is expected to last between 60 and 90 minutes, with a staging area set up outside the stadium at Paxton Terrace for the players and coaching staff to present the trophy to the fans.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/uefa-len-tieng-ve-vu-thieu-huy-chuong-cua-son-heung-min-20250523121536615.htm