Saint Petersburg has been stripped of the Champions League final in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Paris given the showpiece event instead.
UEFA confirmed European club football’s showpiece occasion on Saturday, May 28 will be moved to Paris from the Gazprom Arena in the Russian city after an emergency meeting of its executive committee was convened this morning.
Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday with troops attacking the country from the north, east and south, inflicting enormous damage to military installations and civilian casualties.
Four Premier League clubs remain in the competition at the last-16 stage with Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City taking leads into next month’s second leg ties and Manchester United level with Atletico Madrid.
Paris’ Stade de France, which last held the Champions League final 16 years ago when Barcelona beat Arsenal, will now play host to the European showpiece at the end of the football season.
‘The UEFA Executive Committee today held an extraordinary meeting following the grave escalation of the security situation in Europe,’ a UEFA statement on Friday read.
‘The UEFA Executive Committee decided to relocate the final of the 2021-22 UEFA men’s Champions League from Saint Petersburg to Stade de France in Saint-Denis. The game will be played as initially scheduled on Saturday 28 May at 9pm CET (8pm BST).
‘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.
The 2022 Champions League final will now be held at the Stade de France in Paris after UEFA stripped Russia of the showpiece following invasion of Ukraine
The 65,000-capacity Gazprom Arena was due to host this season’s showpiece event
‘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.’
The Kremlin reacted to the decision soon afterwards, claiming that St Petersburg would have offered ‘the best possible conditions’ for the showpiece event.
‘It is a shame that such a decision was made,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
‘Saint Petersburg could have provided the best possible conditions for holding this football event.’
The UK government immediately endorsed the decision to strip Russia of the final. Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said: ‘I welcome UEFA’s decisive action to strip St Petersburg of staging this year’s Champions League Final.
‘Russia must not be allowed to exploit sporting and cultural events on the world stage to legitimise its unprovoked, premeditated and needless attack against a sovereign democratic state.’
Russian and Ukrainian club and national teams will play home games at neutral venues, UEFA also announced.
Spartak Moscow are set to be impacted as they’re still in the Europa League and will face RB Leipzig in the last-16 next month, while Russia and Ukraine feature in the 2022-23 Nations League taking place in June.
‘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 statement continued.
‘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.’
The uncertainty surrounding next month’s World Cup play-off matches remains with FIFA yet to make a decision.
Russia welcome Poland on March 24 while Sweden also face the Czech Republic in the semi-finals of the competition in Russia.
West Ham’s London Stadium did emerge as a contender to host the Champions League final
The respective federations of Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic insisted matches should not be played in Russia and demanded ‘alternative solutions’.
FIFA are looking at the situation with ‘urgency’, president Gianni Infantino revealed on Thursday, and did reveal hopes of a resolution by March.
Scotland are also set to host Ukraine at Hampden Park in the same stage of the road to Qatar play-offs next month but the fixture is in doubt after the Ukrainian football league was paused for at least 30 days.
Sportsmail reported on Thursday that West Ham’s owners would have been interested in staging the final at their 62,500-capacity home.
Wembley – which holds 90,000 spectators – was an option but the stadium is set to hold the Championship and League Two play-off finals on the same weekend.
Wembley and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (above) were also in the running to host
The national stadium is also set to host the ‘Finalissima’ between Italy and Argentina – the reigning champions of Europe and South America respectively – on June 1.
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – capacity 62,850 – or West Ham’s home had no such concerns with scheduling but France’s capital was selected as the new venue on Friday.
Not having the event since 2006 and France’s position within the Council of the European Union put Paris in good stead to come out on top, according to The New York Times.
Natali Sevriukova, a resident of Kyiv, is pictured weeping on the streets of Kyiv after a Russian rocket strike destroyed the apartment block where she lives overnight
Firemen pick their way through the rubble of a destroyed apartment in Kyiv, as President Zelensky said the Russian military is now targeting civilian areas
A man dressed in camouflage takes a picture of a crater where a Russian rocket landed, destroying part of an apartment block in Kyiv which is now under heavy attack
The news came as Ukrainian forces took to the streets of Kyiv today with national guard troops pictured lining up defensive positions along a highway shortly before the sounds of gunfire and explosions rang out as they battled Russian forces for control of the capital.
Putin’s men are now thought to be inside the city, though their exact location and number is unclear. Fighting was reported in Obolon, on the city’s outskirts, in the early hours as the ministry of defence told residents to make Molotov cocktails to ‘repel the occupiers’. Russian forces were also spotted in Vorzel, Bucha, Irpen districts.
The Russian troops are thought to have arrived from the north-east, having pushed down from Chernobyl which was captured late yesterday. More Russian troops and armour are advancing on the capital from Konotop, in the east, having bypassed the city of Chernihiv where they ran into heavy Ukrainian resistance.
Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said today will be the war’s ‘hardest day’.
Once Kyiv is surrounded, US intelligence believes the plan will be for Russian special forces to move in and seize an airport – likely Sikorsky or Boryspil – which would then be used to fly in a much larger force of up to 10,000 paratroopers who would assault the capital.
The job of the paratroopers would be to enter the city, find Zelensky, his ministers, and parliamentarians, before forcing them to sign a peace deal handing control of the country back to Russia or a Moscow-backed puppet regime – effectively ending the war without Putin’s ground forces needing to complete the difficult and bloody task of seizing and occupying the whole country.
It appears the Russians almost pulled off the plan on the first day of the invasion when 20 attack helicopters landed a crack team of troops at Antonov Airport, 15 miles to the north of Kyiv. But Ukrainian national guard units managed to retake the landing strip overnight after heavy fighting, scattering the surviving Russian attackers into the surrounding countryside.
World players’ union FIFPRO issued a statement on the Russian invasion on Friday, adding: ‘FIFPRO commends the sanctions that have targeted the individuals and businesses that enable the Putin regime and its assault on the rule of law.
‘Football must now follow the lead of democratic governments to review and sever any ties that undermine the basic principles of our industry.
‘FIFPRO stands together with the Ukrainian people and we are currently seeking assurances and support from the international football bodies to protect professional players in the country.’
Ukrainian soldiers are pictured forming up across a highway in Kyiv as they prepare to defend the city from Russian attackers, with gunfire and explosions heard in the centre of the capital
UEFA – president Aleksander Ceferin pictured – came under pressure to reconsider final venue
