Reports | UEFA exploring contingency plans to move Champions League final from Russia
According to ESPN, UEFA are looking into a contingency plans to move the Champions League final from Russia amidst the possibility of a military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The current hosts are the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg after COVID-19 forced them to lose the 2021 final.
With the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the world, it saw nearly everything pushed or postponed with the Euro 2020 amongst many of those. However, both the Champions League and the Europa League final eventually took place much like the league season to mark the end of the 2019/20 season. But while Saint Petersburg was supposed to host the 2021 final, the pandemic meant that UEFA staged the final in Portugal instead.
However, in order to turn things around, UEFA reallocated Istanbul and Saint Petersburg their hosting of the final in 2023 and 2022 respectively. But the situation has changed over the last 24 hours or so with both the UK government and the European Union concerned about the growing situation between Russia and Ukraine. So much so, that ESPN has reported that it could see them impose stringent sanctions on Russia which could affect the Champions League final.
ESPN has further reported that UEFA have already prepared contingency plans and are ready to move locations if needed, having already done it in the past. Not only that, the report further indicated that European football’s governing body is still looking into the situation but have mae no real decision yet as to what they will do