The serious conflict that exists in Europe due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine has had an immediate effect on football, specifically on the Champions League.
UEFA has decided this Friday to move the final of the competition from Saint Petersburg to Paris, and now the grand final will be played at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.
The entity’s Executive Committee made the decision in an extraordinary meeting and also announced that the Russian and Ukrainian clubs and national teams that compete in official competitions will have to play their home games in neutral venues until further notice.
UEFA thanked French President Emmanuel Macron for his support: “Together with the French government, Uefa will fully support multi-stakeholder efforts to ensure rescue provision for football players and their families in Ukraine, who are facing terrible human suffering, destruction and displacement,” he said in a statement.
This is the third change of venue for the Champions League final that UEFA must make in recent years. It is worth remembering that in the 2019-20 season the final was going to be played in Istanbul but, due to the situation derived from the pandemic, a special tournament was organized, with elimination in a single match and all the teams concentrated in Portugal, with the final victory of the Bayern Munich against PSG.
The following year they couldn’t play in Istanbul either and Manchester City and Chelsea ended up deciding the title at the Do Dragao stadium in Porto. In 2023, if there is no news, the final duel would be in the Turkish city.
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Source: soccernetwork
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