European football’s governing body are reportedly evaluating the possibility of shifting the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League final from the Gazprom Arena in Saint Petersburg amid growing geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
Russia’s decision to order troops in Eastern Ukraine has coincided with calls to levy sanctions against the European nation, including taking the showpiece event away from them ahead of its May 29, 2022 date.
Britain has been vocal in its disdain towards Russia presiding over the Champions League final, with four of the nation’s top clubs still involved in the competition – and with a chance to make it to that stage. On February 22, British prime minister Boris Johnson said as much to the House of Commons.
“A Russia that is more isolated, a Russia that has pariah status — (there is) no chance of holding football tournaments in a Russia that invades sovereign countries,”
he told the assembly.
Cultural Secretary Nadine Dorries repeated Johnson’s sentiment, claiming that the Northern European nation should be prevented from holding sporting events.
“I have serious concerns about the sporting events due to be held in Russia, such as the Champions League Final, and will discuss with the relevant governing bodies. We won’t allow President Putin to exploit events on the world stage to legitimize his illegal invasion of Ukraine.”
she tweeted.
UEFA is said to be monitoring the developments closely but has declined to move the event away from St Petersburg at present. As per The Athletic, the European football body is confident of moving the Final to a new location promptly – as it has done so for the past two years – should it be deemed necessary.
Faced with significantly different circumstances, yet ones which provided a similar challenge, UEFA did move the Champions League final to new locations on short notice during the previous two seasons.
Coronavirus-related issues forced almost the entire knockout stage of the tournament to be shifted to Portugal two seasons ago, while last year, the final was taken from Istanbul to Porto due to comparable difficulties.
