Ukraine crisis: UEFA shifts Champions League final from St Petersburg to Paris

Nyon (Switzerland), Feb. 25 (IANS) The UEFA executive committee held an emergency meeting on Friday and has decided to move the Champions League final from St Petersburg to Paris.

The 2022 final was scheduled to be held at Krestovsky Stadium, which is sponsored by Russian state-owned company Gazprom, but it has been decided that the marquee event final will now be moved to the Stade de France in Paris to be played on the original date of May 28.

A statement from European football’s governing body said, “The UEFA executive committee decided to relocate the final of the 2021/22 UEFA Men’s Champions League from St Petersburg to Stade de France in St Denis. The game will be played as initially scheduled on Saturday, May 28.”

“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,” it added.

The executive committee also decided 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.

On Thursday, UEFA released a statement saying it “strongly condemns” Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine:

“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.”