UEFA has moved the venue for this year’s Champions League final from Russian city of St Petersburg due to the escalating situation in Ukraine.
The final was due to take place at the 68,000-capacity Gazprom Arena in St Petersburg on May 28, 2022 but UEFA President, Aleksander Ceferin, called an “extraordinary meeting” of the Executive Committee in which the committee made the decision to change the match venue.
UEFA confirmed that the European club’s football showpiece will now take place in France after an emergency meeting of its executive committee was convened on Friday, February 25, 2022.
Stade de France, which last held the Champions League final 16 years ago when Barcelona beat Arsenal, will now play host to the European showpiece at the end of the football season.
“The UEFA Executive Committee decided to relocate the final of the 2021-22 UEFA men’s Champions League from Saint Petersburg to Stade de France in Saint-Denis. The game will be played as initially scheduled on Saturday 28 May at 9pm CET (8pm BST).
“UEFA wishes to express its thanks and appreciation to French Republic President Emmanuel Macron for his personal support and commitment to have European club football’s most prestigious game moved to France at a time of unparalleled crisis.
“Together with the French government, UEFA will fully support multi-stakeholder efforts to ensure the provision of rescue for football players and their families in Ukraine who face dire human suffering, destruction and displacement”.
UEFA
Russian President, Vladimir Putin, ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, February 24, 2022 with troops attacking the country from the north, east and south, inflicting enormous damage to military installations and civilian casualties.
Russian and Ukrainian club and national teams to play on neutral grounds
Consequently, Russian and Ukrainian clubs and national teams will now play home games at neutral venues, UEFA announced.
Spartak Moscow is set to be impacted as the club is still in the Europa League, with the last-16 draw held today, Friday, February 25, 2022 saw the team paired against RB Leipzig of Germany. The crisis will also affect Russia and Ukraine in the 2022-23 Nations League taking place in June.
“At today’s meeting, the UEFA Executive Committee also decided that Russian and Ukrainian clubs and national teams competing in UEFA competitions will be required to play their home matches at neutral venues until further notice.
“The UEFA Executive Committee further determined to remain on standby to convene further extraordinary meetings, on a regular ongoing basis where required, to reassess the legal and factual situation as it evolves and adopt further decisions as necessary”.
UEFA
The uncertainty surrounding next month’s World Cup play-off matches remains with FIFA yet to make a decision. Russia welcomes Poland on March 24 while Sweden also face the Czech Republic in the semi-finals of the competition in Russia.
The respective federations of Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic insisted matches should not be played in Russia and demanded “alternative solutions”.
FIFA is looking at the situation with “urgency”, President Gianni Infantino revealed on February 24, 2022, and did reveal hopes of a resolution by March. Scotland is also set to host Ukraine at Hampden Park in the same stage of the road to Qatar play-offs next month but the fixture is in doubt after the Ukrainian football league was paused for at least 30 days.
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