Uefa Moves Champions League Final To Paris
UEFA has announced that the 2021/22 Champions League final will now be held in Paris, after removing the hosting rights from Saint Petersburg following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Executive Committee of European football’s governing body today (25th February) held an extraordinary meeting amid what UEFA described as the “grave escalation of the security situation in Europe”.
This season’s Champions League final was originally scheduled for Gazprom Arena, home of Russian Premier League club Zenit Saint Petersburg. However, it will now be staged at the Stade de France in the Saint-Denis commune of Paris. The game will be played as initially planned on 28th May at 9pm CET.
UEFA said in a statement, “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.
“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.”
Saint Petersburg was originally awarded the 2021 Champions League final back in September 2019, as part of a multi-event decision made by UEFA, which also assigned the 2022 and 2023 games to Munich and London, respectively.
However, these three finals were each moved back a year in June 2020 as UEFA reorganised its events calendar amid the challenges of COVID-19.
At today’s meeting, the 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.
UEFA added, “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.”
In other news, German 2. Bundesliga club Schalke 04 has elected to remove the branding of main sponsor, Russian energy giant Gazprom, from its shirt.
Schalke said, “In view of the events, development and escalation of the past few days, FC Schalke 04 has decided to remove the lettering of its main sponsor – ‘Gazprom’ – from the jerseys. This step follows discussions with Gazprom Germania. Instead, ‘Schalke 04’ will be on the chest of the Royal Blues.”
Gazprom extended its deal with Schalke in April 2021, with the contract stating that it would continue as the club’s main sponsor for at least the next three seasons.
Commenting on this development, Justin Williams, of sports due diligence and intelligence specialists InsightX, said, “While Gazprom is one of the most visible Russian presences in European sport, removing the Kremlin’s influence is not as straightforward as simply airbrushing corporate logos from shirts.
“Russian money and ownership are deeply embedded in football, in particular. Russians close to Putin have significant financial stakes in several major European clubs. Meanwhile, multiple sponsors – particularly some in the NFT/crypto space – have ownership structures which seek to conceal Russian involvement.
“As the international sanctions regime evolves after the invasion of Ukraine, rights-holders and clubs are going to need to look extremely closely at their investors, their sponsors and their crypto partners to ensure that they are in compliance and to prevent serious reputational blowback.”
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