By Andrew Warshaw
February 25 – As widely anticipated, UEFA have stripped St Petersburg of hosting this season’s Champions League final and switched their annual showpiece fixture to the Stade de France in Paris as a result of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Europe’s most important club fixture was due to be played at the Gazprom arena but following a swift emergency virtual meeting of its executive committee, UEFA took decisive action in punishing the Russians by moving the game out of the country.
Sticking to the same May 28 date for the final, UEFA expressed “thanks and appreciation” to French 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.”
Reports said UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin had travelled to the French capital on Thursday to meet with Macron to finalise the switch.
Having already relocated the venue for the final of the 2020 and 2021 editions due to the coronavirus pandemic, UEFA have now been forced into a third change: despite the fact that Russian energy giant Gazprom is one of its major sponsors and that St Petersburg, symbolically Vladimir Putin’s home town, lost out last year because of the fallout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Switching the Champions League climax to Paris will be of particular interest to Paris St Germain who have never won the competition but now have an extra incentive to hold on to their 1-0 last-16 lead against Real Madrid.
It will be the first time France has hosted the final since 2006 and the move will heap pressure on FIFA to take similar action with regard to any games under its jurisdiction that are due to take place in Russia, not least a March World Cup playoff (see Poles, Swedes and Czechs tell FIFA they will not play qualifiers in Russia).
Today’s UEFA meeting also decided that Russian and Ukrainian clubs and national teams in UEFA competitions will have to play at neutral venues until further notice.
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