Home ›› 26 Feb 2022 ›› Sport
Paris will host this season’s Champions League final after Saint Petersburg was stripped of the match due to Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, UEFA announced on Friday.
The final match will be played at the Stade de France on Saturday, May 28, European football’s governing body said after holding an emergency meeting in response to the crisis. “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,” a statement said.
The Russian government responded by calling the decision by UEFA “a shame”.
“It is a shame that such a decision was made,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “Saint Petersburg could have provided the best possible conditions for holding this football event.”
The final was supposed to be played at the Gazprom Arena in Saint Petersburg, which already hosted several matches at last year’s European Championship and at the 2018 World Cup held in Russia.
UEFA made no reference to its relationship with Gazprom, the Russian state energy giant that is a key sponsor of European football’s governing body.
It is the third year running in which UEFA has moved the Champions League final with the Covid-19 pandemic leading to the 2020 edition being switched from Istanbul to Lisbon, and then again from the Turkish city to Porto in Portugal last year.
The Stade de France has hosted the Champions League final twice before(in 2000 and 2006).
With a capacity of 80,000, it was also the venue for the 1998 World Cup final and the final of Euro 2016.
Meanwhile, UEFA announced that Russian and Ukrainian clubs and national teams competing in international competitions must play home matches at neutral venues “until further notice”.
Spartak Moscow, in the Europa League, are the only club from either Russia or Ukraine still involved in European competition this season.
