Aditya ChaudhuriSt. Petersburg was originally supposed to host the event.
UEFA has stripped Saint Petersburg from hosting the 2022 Champions League final. The final will now be held at the Stade de France in Paris following the UEFA executive committee’s meeting on Friday following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Krestovsky Stadium (Gazprom Arena) was supposed to host the final on May 28. The venue initially was supposed to host the 2021 final, but due to COVID-19 restrictions, it was pushed back a year.
The meeting on Friday not only decided the venue for the 2022 Champions League final but also announced that the Ukrainian and Russian national and club teams would have to play their home games at neutral venues until further notice. The Ukraine Football Association had earlier asked both FIFA and UEFA to remove Russia and its club sides from all international competitions.
UEFA released a statement on Friday following their extraordinary meeting, stating:
“The UEFA Executive Committee today held an extraordinary meeting following the grave escalation of the security situation in Europe.
“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 21:00 CET.
“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.
“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 had earlier released a statement on Thursday, which read:
“Following the evolution of the situation between Russia and Ukraine, the UEFA president has called an extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee for 10 a.m. CET [4 a.m. ET] on Friday 25 February, in order to evaluate the situation and take all necessary decisions.
“Further communication will be made after the meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee.
“UEFA shares the international community’s significant concern for the security situation developing in Europe and strongly condemns the ongoing Russian military invasion in Ukraine.
“As the governing body of European football, UEFA is working tirelessly to develop and promote football according to common European values such as peace and respect for human rights, in the spirit of the Olympic Charter. We remain resolute in our solidarity with the football community in Ukraine and stand ready to extend our hand to the Ukrainian people.
“We are dealing with this situation with the utmost seriousness and urgency. Decisions will be taken by the UEFA Executive Committee and announced tomorrow.”
Apart from UEFA, FIFA also has some tough calls to make after Poland, the Czech Republic and Sweden refused to travel to Russia to play their World Cup Play-off games. Poland are due to play Russia in Moscow on March 24, while Sweden and the Czech Republic face each other on March 25 and play the winner of the Russia-Poland game on March 29.
The Ukrainian Premier League has also been put on hold after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced his decision to impose martial law. The league, which was due to get underway from February 25, was on a two-month winter break.
