The decision was made by the Executive Committee of the European Football Union (UEFA) on Friday at a crisis meeting due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Venue will be the Stade de France.
In addition, the most important UEFA body decided that Russian and Ukrainian clubs must host their European Cup home games on neutral ground. This also applies to the national teams of the two countries in the Nations League from this summer. The play-offs in qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar, which are due at the end of March, are FIFA competitions and the responsibility of the world association.
According to the draw, Russia meets Poland at home in the play-off semi-finals and would have home rights again in the event of a win against the winners from Sweden – Czech Republic. These three national associations have already declared that they have no intention of playing in Russia. Ukraine plays Scotland away from home, but if promoted, either Austria or Wales would be the opponents away from home.
It was already reported in UEFA circles on Thursday that St. Petersburg will be stripped of the role of hosting the most important club final of the season because of the Russian military attack. However, a quick decision for a replacement location had not yet been expected.
In a statement on Friday, UEFA thanked French President Emmanuel Macron “for his personal support and commitment to bringing the most prestigious game in European club football to France at a time of unprecedented crisis.”
UEFA had moved the finals of the premier class to Lisbon in 2020 and to Porto in 2021 due to the corona pandemic. Istanbul is planned as the final venue in 2023, London in 2024 and Munich in 2025. St. Petersburg is the hometown of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The state-owned Russian energy company Gazprom is one of UEFA’s biggest sponsors. There was no information from the European umbrella organization on Friday about the future of this partnership.
Source: Nachrichten
