UEFA to move Champions League final after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; Poland

UEFA has called an extraordinary meeting of its executive committee for Friday to discuss the deepening crisis between Russia and Ukraine. European football’s governing body is set to move the final of this season’s Champions League on May 28, which was originally due to take place in Saint Petersburg’s Krestovsky Stadium, after Russia stepped up its campaign against its neighbor with a full-scale military attack on Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday morning. 

Missiles have reportedly landed close to several major Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, prompting further outcry from the international community. The United States is among those nations who have confirmed that it will issue sanctions against Russia, the Vladimir Putin regime and his allies; the details of America’s package will be announced later on Thursday. In such circumstances, it is inevitable that the venue of European football’s showpiece match will move.

“Following the evolution of the situation between Russia and Ukraine in the last 24 hours, the UEFA President has decided to call an extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee for Friday 25 February at 10:00 CET, in order to evaluate the situation and take all necessary decisions,” said a statement. “Further communication will be made after the meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee.”

Furthermore, UEFA issued a statement to condemn the Russian military invasion and to extend solidarity to residents of Ukraine.

UEFA shares the international community’s significant concern for the security situation developing in Europe and strongly condemns the ongoing Russian military invasion in Ukraine.

As the governing body of European football, UEFA is working tirelessly to develop and promote football according to common European values such as peace and respect for human rights, in the spirit of the Olympic Charter. We remain resolute in our solidarity with the football community in Ukraine and stand ready to extend our hand to the Ukrainian people.

We are dealing with this situation with the utmost seriousness and urgency. Decisions will be taken by the UEFA Executive Committee and announced tomorrow.

CBS Sports sources confirm that UEFA is drawing up contingency plans for alternative venues, though a specific replacement may not be selected until later in the Champions League tournament when it becomes clearer which countries will potentially be involved in the final. London has been intimated as a possible host city and West Ham’s 60,000 capacity home stadium has intimated it would be interested in holding the final, which has involved five English teams in the last four years. Wembley Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium are both currently in use the day of the final.

The Champions League final is not the only matter to be addressed. Questions have also been raised about UEFA’s involvement with Gazprom. The majority state-owned energy company has sponsored the Champions League since 2012, adverts for the company have been a staple of match broadcasts ever since. The deal is reported to be worth $45 million a year.

Politicians in the European Parliament have called for that association to end, saying in an open letter: “We call on you to stop considering Saint Petersburg and other Russian cities as venues for international football competitions and to choose as a first and very urgent step an alternative venue for the Champions League final on May 28, 2022.

“In addition, we appeal to you to convene a special meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee, to terminate cooperation with Gazprom as UEFA sponsor and to consider sanctions against individual Russian officials who are complicit in the violation of international law.”

German club Schalke 04 said it will remove Gazprom as its jersey sponsor.

In footballing terms, Russia are due to host Poland in a World Cup qualifier on March 24, if they won that match they would also play at home to the winner of the match between Sweden and the Czech Republic. The football associations of all three countries say they will not travel to Russia.

A joint statement said: “Based on the current alarming development in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine including the security situation the Football Associations of Poland (PZPN), Sweden (SvFF) and Czech Republic (FAR) express their firm position that the playoff matches to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, scheduled for 24 and 29 March 2022, should not be played in the territory of the Russian Federation.

“The signatories to this appeal do not consider travelling to Russia and playing football matches there. The military escalation that we are observing entails serious consequences and considerably lower safety for our national football teams and official delegations. Therefore, we expect FIFA and UEFA to react immediately and to present alternative solutions regarding places where…