Russia stripped of Champions League final by UEFA over Ukraine invasion

Taking action over the invasion of Ukraine, the UEFA, the governing body of European football, shifted the final of the Champion League out of St. Petersburg, Russia due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. The final will now be played Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France. 

The Guardian reported that a extraordinary meeting of UEFA’s executive committee confirmed an outcome that had been expected but was met with criticism from Russian officials, who accused Uefa of playing politics.

The move came on a day when Manchester United ended their sponsorship deal with the Russian airline Aeroflot.

The 2021/22 #UCLfinal will move from Saint Petersburg to Stade de France in Saint-Denis.

The game will be played as initially scheduled on Saturday 28 May at 21:00 CET.

Full statement ⬇️

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) February 25, 2022

UEFA’s showpiece fixture will be played at the Stade de France on 28 May, with the governing body thanking Emmanuel Macron for his role in facilitating the change.

“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,” a statement said.

“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 Stade de France in Paris, pictured last March.

A second decision was taken to move the home fixtures of Ukrainian and Russian club and national teams to neutral venues. In effect this applies immediately only to Spartak Moscow, who play RB Leipzig the last 16 of the Europa League. Uefa’s international competition the Nations League is scheduled to resume in June, when Russia are set to host Iceland and Albania, and Ukraine are due to be at home to Armenia and the Republic of Ireland.

On Thursday the Ukrainian FA (UAF) had called for all Russian teams be excluded from Uefa competitions. There was no update on Uefa’s commercial relationship with Russian gas company Gazprom. However the decisions taken by Uefa were strongly criticised by Alexander Dyukov, the head of the Russian Football Union (RFU), who sits on the Uefa ExCo and is chairman of the Gazprom subsidiary Gazprom Neft.

In a statement released via the RFU, Dyukov said: “We believe that the decision to move the venue of the Champions League final was dictated by political reasons. The RFU has always adhered to the principle of ‘sport is out of politics’, and thus cannot support this decision.

“The RFU also does not support the decision to transfer any matches involving Russian teams to neutral territory as it violates the sports principle and infringes on the interests of players, coaches and fans.”

Andrii Pavelko, the UAF president, was also present at the meeting, after which a statement said: “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.”

Russia and Ukraine are due to play in World Cup play-offs next month in fixtures that fall under Fifa’s jurisdiction.

United said of their move to end ties with Aeroflot, the club’s official carrier: “In light of events in Ukraine, we have withdrawn Aeroflot’s sponsorship rights. We share the concerns of our fans around the world and extend our sympathies to those affected.”

The decision ends a nine-year association between United and Russia’s largest airline. The contract was was due to expire next year, having been renewed in 2017.

The UK government responded positively to Uefa’s actions. The culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, welcomed the move and the sports minister, Nigel Huddleston, said other sporting bodies should follow Uefa’s lead.

“I appreciate that a lot of people are uncomfortable mixing sport and ‘politics’ but the situation in Ukraine is way beyond ‘politics’,” Huddleston said. “I welcome the leadership shown by Uefa and I urge other governing bodies due to host international sporting events in Russia this year to follow suit.”