UEFA have announced that this season’s Champions League final will be moved to the Stade de France Stadium, close to Paris, France.
UEFA’s official announcement comes following a committee meeting that was held earlier on Friday morning, discussing the possibility of moving the prestigious final amid rising conflicts between Russia and Ukraine.
The European competition’s final was scheduled to take place on 28 May in Saint Petersburg.
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However, following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade neighbouring Ukraine on Thursday, footballing regulators have been left with little choice but to rearrange the illustrious fixture.
The competition’s governing body’s statement read: “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.”
As things currently stand, the competition’s final is still scheduled to kick off at 8 p.m (UK time) and will be contested in its usual manner.
Everybody at CaughtOffside is glad to see a decision has been made over the location of this year’s Champions League final, however, in the grand scheme of things, football certainly seems irrelevant at this extremely worrying time.
We would also like to extend our thoughts to everybody caught up in this grave conflict.