(By Lorenzo Di Nubila) – The UEFA Champions League Final (UCL) was transferred entirely in English on May 29 to the Portuguese city of Porto, as UEFA itself announced.
The match between Chelsea and Manchester City was supposed to be held in Istanbul, but the UK has included Turkey in the list of countries at high risk for international travel due to the pandemic. Consequently, UEFA decided to choose other sites and thus chooseDragon Stadium (The stadium that hosts the matches at the Futebol Club de Porto stadium). Among the many options, there was also the option to play the match in London, at Wembley, a premise that was subsequently rejected.
It will also be possible to watch the final match from the stands, and in this sense, UEFA has confirmed that 6,000 tickets will be provided to each of the fans.
In reference to this, UEFA stated in a statement: “The final match of the sAtaturk Olympic Stadium From Istanbul, but after the UK government’s decision to include Turkey on the Red List of travel destinations for Covid-19, organizing the final there would have prevented both fans from watching the match from the stands. ”
After a year in which fans were closed from stadiums, UEFA felt it was imperative to do everything in their power to ensure the fans of the two finalists were involved.
UEFA concludes that “UEFA discussed moving the match to England, but despite the strenuous efforts of the Football Association and the authorities, it was not possible to obtain the necessary exemptions from the quarantine agreements in the United Kingdom.”
So Portugal will host the Champions League final for the second year in a row, as happened last year in Lisbon.
UEFA President Alexandre Ceferin said: “Once again, we turned to our friends in Portugal to help both the UEFA and the UEFA Champions League, and I am, as always, very grateful to the Portuguese Football Association and the Portuguese government for agreeing to hold the final match. Short notice. I think we can all agree that we never again hope to experience a year like the year we just lived. “
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