UEFA moves Champions League final from Saint Petersburg to Paris

UEFA has moved this season’s Champions League final from Saint Petersburg in Russia to Paris in France.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin chaired an extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee on Friday where it was decided to move the sports event away from Saint Petersburg following the military attack on Ukraine led by Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The final will instead move to the Stade de France in Paris.

“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 at 2100 CET.

“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,” reads a UEFA statement.

UEFA also decided that it would relocate any games in tournaments it controls that were to be played in Russia and Ukraine, whether involving clubs or national teams, until further notice. At the moment, that affects only a single club match: Spartak Moscow’s next home game in the second-tier Europa League — they have been drawn against RB Leipzig.