The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)

Final of Europe’s premier prize goes to Paris

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Paris will host this season’s Champions League final after the Russian invasion of Ukraine led to St Petersburg being stripped of its right to stage the match.

The Uefa executive committee held an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss its response to the crisis and has opted to remove the showpiece match from Russia’s second-largest city.

A Uefa statement read: “The 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.

“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.”

St Petersburg staged seven matches at Euro 2020 last summer, a tournament organised by Uefa, including the quarter-final between Spain and Switzerlan­d.

Before that, it had hosted seven matches at the 2018 World Cup finals.

The Uefa statement added: “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.”

The executive committee also decided Russian and Ukrainian clubs and national teams competing in Uefa competitio­ns will be required to play their home matches at neutral venues.

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