Lisbon confirmed as venue for Champions League mini-tournament
The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final of the Champions League will be played as a single-match, straight knockout tournament between the eight qualifying clubs from 12-23 August in Lisbon, Uefa has announced.
The matches will be split between Benfica’s Estádio do Sport and the Estádio José Alvalade, the home of Sporting Lisbon, Uefa said, as it set out its plans for the resumption of European club and international football competitions following the game’s suspension due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The quarter-final matches are scheduled to be played on 12, 13, 14 and 15 August, the semi-finals on 18 and 19 August and the final, at Benfica’s stadium, on 23 August.
The Women’s Champions League, in whose quarter-finals Arsenal are drawn against Paris Saint-Germain and Glasgow City face Wolfsburg, will be concluded in that same format, between 21-30 August in Spain, at the San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao and the Anoeta Stadium in San Sebastián, where the final will take place.
The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final of the Europa League will also be played as a straight singlematch knockout tournament from 10-21 August, at four stadiums in Germany with the final in Cologne.
The remaining Champions League last-16 second-leg matches, which include Manchester City’s home tie against Real Madrid and Chelsea’s away leg at Bayern Munich, have been scheduled for 7 and 8 August, with Uefa yet to decide whether they will be played at clubs’ home grounds or in Portugal.
That decision will depend on the prevailing rules and health advice for clubs travelling, the Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said.
He acknowledged that clubs due to host the matches would prefer to play at their home stadiums if possible. If it is not, two more stadiums in Portugal will be added to the Lisbon venues: the Estádio do Dragão, Porto’s home ground, and the Estádio Dom Afonso Henriques, home of Vitoria de Guimarães.
Ceferin said Uefa had not yet determined whether supporters could be allowed to attend matches, as that is dependent on advice relating to the virus and travel in the host countries; he said a decision would be made by mid-July.
Istanbul, which was due to host the final this season, will now do so next year, Ceferin said, with the subsequent scheduled host venues, St Petersburg, Munich and Wembley, which was due to stage the 2023 final, all doing so the a year later than planned.
“I am delighted that we are able to resume almost all of our competitions,” Ceferin said after the executive committee meeting that approved the arrangements.
“Football is leading the return to a more normal life here in Europe, and I want to thank all those, particularly health workers, who have taken risks, and made sacrifices, to give us the opportunity to start playing again.”
He also singled out Marcus Rashford for his landmark campaign lobbying Boris Johnson’s government over the 3.5m children living in poverty in Britain, and for children to keep the £15-per-week free school meal vouchers through the summer, which prompted a U-turn by Johnson this week.
“I’m also proud of the fact that footballers are leading some of today’s most important debates,” Ceferin said. “We have seen players like Raheem Sterling, Marcelo, Jérôme Boateng and many others make important stands over Black Lives Matter. And just yesterday, we saw Marcus Rashford change government policy to stop children suffering from hunger. Football really can be an important vehicle for good and these examples demonstrate that.”
Ceferin also confirmed that the 12 cities, including London, Glasgow and Dublin, that were due to stage the European Championship this summer will all host matches at the rescheduled tournament next year.
For England a packed autumn schedule is in prospect. They will play two Nations League ties in each of the September, October and November international windows – home and away to Iceland, Denmark and Belgium – with slots for additional, to-be-confirmed friendlies at the start of the October and November breaks. This will mean them playing three times in the space of a week or so in both those windows.