UEFA Rules out Wembley for UCL Final after Istanbul Venue Looks Unlikely

UEFA is urgently seeking reports from Turkey after the country went into lockdown in a bid to stem a surge in coronavirus cases just five weeks before the Champions League final is due to be played there.

Turkish residents will be required to stay mostly at home under a nationwide “full lockdown” starting on Thursday and lasting until May 17, President Tayyip Erdogan has announced.

The Champions League final is due to take place at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul on May 29. At least 9,000 fans were expected to attend, with supporters from both clubs due to be present in the 80,000-seat arena.

However, yet again the European football governing body’s plans have been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic and officials are now scrambling to assess the situation in Turkey.

The first legs of the semi finals of the competition are taking place this week, with Chelsea playing Real Madrid last night while Manchester City Paris Saint-Germain will do battle tonight.

UEFA has ruled out moving the game to Wembley for the benefit of the finalists, should Manchester City and Chelsea navigate their semi-finals and meet in the final.

It is up to the Turkish authorities to decide if fans will be allowed to attend the showpiece in Istanbul next month.

In March, Sportsmail revealed UEFA was planning for fans of both clubs to attend the final by selling smart tickets to supporters on their mobile phones.

The eight quarter-finalists were told that at least 9,000 fans should be able to attend, with the ticket allocation split between the clubs.

No final decisions regarding capacity and international visitors had been taken, but UEFA were said to be optimistic.

However, in April, Europe has been gripped by a third wave of coronavirus cases, fuelled by an infectious variant and slow roll out of vaccination programmes.

Even if no supporters can attend the final, UEFA may allow the game to go ahead in Istanbul without fans. Last year’s final, in which Bayern Munich beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 was also played in front of empty stands at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal.

It remains to be seen if this year’s final could move on health grounds and no doubt the Turkish authorities will hope the action they are taking now will bring the infection rate under control.

The lockdown comes after Turkey recorded 37,312 new covid infections and 353 deaths in 24 hours.

While these figures are down on recent data, Turkey still has the world’s fourth highest number of cases and is ranked worst on a per-capita basis among major nations, according to Reuters.

Announcing the new measures after a cabinet meeting, Erdogan said all intercity travel would require official approval, all schools would shut and lessons moved online, and a strict capacity limit would be imposed for users of public transport.

The Champions League has already experienced a lot of disruption due to the pandemic, this season.

During the round of 16 stage of the competition teams were forced to play home games at neutral venues – such as Liverpool’s tie with RB Leipzig being played in Budapest and Manchester City’s matches with Borussia Monchengladbach taking place in Bucharest.

At the end of March, with hopes that the worst of the pandemic was passing, UEFA cleared the way for fans to travel to the Champions League and Europa League finals, as well Euro 2020 matches, in large numbers.

The European football governing body lifted its restriction on the number of fans who can attend matches and prepared to remove a ban on travelling fans in May.

The limits had been put in place in October in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

There were upheavals last season, too. The final was also due to be played at the Ataturk Stadium in 2020, but it was moved to Lisbon as part of a ‘final-eight tournament’, which took place in August, consisting of single-match knockout ties played in two stadiums across the city.