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The European Football Confederation, UEFA, called an extraordinary meeting on Friday to “assess the situation” regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to AP, the body plans to relocate the final, scheduled for May 28 in Saint Petersburg.
Will the ax of UEFA fall on Russia? The European Football Confederation announced on Thursday (February 24th) an extraordinary meeting on Friday to “evaluate the situation” regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, launched on Thursday, when the Champions League final is scheduled for Saint Petersburg. . She also “strongly condemned the Russian military invasion” in a press release.
“No decision has been taken” by UEFA at this stage, but the European confederation “is working on different options” to relocate the meeting, a source familiar with the matter told AFP and AP.
The European football body will meet its executive committee on Friday at 10 a.m. to “take all the necessary decisions”, it announced in a press release. The Champions League final, the main club competition in Europe, is scheduled for May 28 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, at the Gazprom Arena. The Russian state company is also a partner of the Champions League and Euro-2024.
Further communication will be made after the meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee.
— UEFA (@UEFA) February 24, 2022
The Ukrainian championship announced its suspension on Thursday due to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to impose martial law. The league was due to resume on Friday after a two-month winter break. He gave no expected date for a resumption.
The emergency UEFA meeting comes as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday there was “zero chance” Russia could host football tournaments in the coming weeks.
Russia, host country of the 2018 World Cup, is to host the C1 final on May 28, in the Gazprom Arena in Saint Petersburg, already used in the summer of 2021 for Euro-2020, postponed for a year.
British Minister for Sport and Culture Nadine Dorries had previously said on Twitter that she had “deep concerns” about the organization of sporting events in Russia, citing in particular the Champions League final.
“We will not allow President Putin to exploit events on the international scene to legitimize his illegal invasion of Ukraine,” she added, adding that she would meet with the “relevant governing bodies”.
UEFA has already had to relocate the last two Champions League finals, to Lisbon in 2020 then to Porto in 2021, due to the Covid-19 pandemic which prevented the match from being played in Istanbul, as originally planned these two years there.
With AFP and AP