UEFA are to hold an emergency meeting on Friday to “evaluate
the situation” concerning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with the former set to
host the Champions League final in Saint Petersburg in May.
“Following the evolution of the situation between Russia and
Ukraine in the last 24 hours, the UEFA president has decided to call an
extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee for Friday 25 February at
10:00 CET (0900 GMT), in order to evaluate the situation and take all necessary
decisions,” UEFA said in a statement.
The final of European club football’s premier competition is
scheduled to be played on May 28 at the Gazprom Arena in Saint Petersburg,
which already hosted several matches at last year’s European Championship and
at the 2018 World Cup held in Russia.
European football’s governing body has a major sponsorship deal with Gazprom, the Russian state energy giant.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that
Russia had “no chance” of holding European football’s showpiece game if it
invaded Ukraine.
“A Russia that has pariah status — no chance of holding a
football tournament in a Russia that invades sovereign countries,” Johnson
said.
There are currently four English Premier League clubs still
involved in the last 16 of this season’s Champions League, including Chelsea
and Manchester City, who contested last season’s final in Porto, Portugal.
UEFA has already moved the last two Champions League finals
due to the pandemic from Istanbul to Lisbon in 2020, and then again from the
Turkish city to Porto last year.
The Champions League final was last staged in Russia in
2008, when Manchester United defeated Chelsea on penalties in Moscow.
Zenit Saint Petersburg, the reigning Russian champions and
current league leaders, are still involved in UEFA competition this season and
are due to play Real Betis in Spain in the Europa League on Thursday.
The Ukrainian league, which was due to resume this weekend
after its long winter break, has been suspended.
“We’ll withstand it,” posted Shakhtar Donetsk, the 13-time
Ukrainian champions who have been exiled from their already war-torn home city
for eight years, on Twitter with a picture of the Ukrainian flag.
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