Spurs win Euro final
RUGBY’S SHOWPIECE TO BE HELD AT NEW GROUND IN 2021
ToTTENHAM’S new stadium in north london has been chosen to host the 2021 European club finals.
Spurs’ state-of-the-art, 62,000seat arena has been selected to stage the Champions and Challenge Cup Finals in two years, ahead of the london Stadium in Stratford — home to their Premier league rivals West Ham — and the iconic Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
Sportsmail understands the evaluation process concluded late last month with a decision to try a new location in a familiar city.
Although Spurs only moved into their new home last month, the football club have been striving for some time to attract other sports to Tottenham High Road.
There is an agreement in place with the NFl for American football matches to take place there and Saracens recently announced a five-year deal to play one-off, marquee Premiership matches there each season. That arrangement could lead to a scenario whereby the current English champions find themselves qualifying for a final at a venue which serves as their home-from-home.
Yet that would only be in line with leinster staging knockout matches at the Aviva Stadium, which they use for several home fixtures each season.
This decision by tournament organisers EPCR means that their finals will return to England only two years after this month’s showpieces in Newcastle, at St James’ Park.
However, it also comes on the back of the European competitions venturing into new territories — lyon in 2016, Bilbao last May and Tyneside’s sporting mecca this coming weekend. It will be the sixth time that the main European cup final has been held in london, with the previous five matches all taking place at Twickenham.
Cardiff remains the market leader, with seven past finals having taken place at the national stadium — when it was known as the Millennium Stadium. dublin and Edinburgh have each been the host city three times.
The allocation of the 2021 finals has been repeatedly delayed. Initially, it was supposed to be confirmed at the same time as the 2020 finals, but Marseille’s successful bid for those games was revealed back in october last year.
Since then, Amsterdam withdrew as a candidate city for 2021, leaving Spurs to win a three-horse race.