UEFA Holds Emergency Meeting, May Move Champions League Final from St Petersburg

RUSSIA INVASION OF UKRAINE: IMPACT ON SPORTS

*Schalke 04 have yanked the name of Russian sponsors Gazprom from their Jerseys

UEFA will hold an emergency meeting today with this season’s Champions League final in Saint Petersburg set to be at the top of the agenda as European football’s governing body said it “strongly condemns” Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.

UEFA shares the international community’s significant concern for the security situation developing in Europe and strongly condemns the ongoing Russian military invasion in Ukraine,” it said in a statement on Thursday.

“We remain resolute in our solidarity with the football community in Ukraine and stand ready to extend our hand to the Ukrainian people.”

UEFA said an extraordinary meeting of its executive committee would be held on Friday at 9am GMT and a decision is likely to be made on this season’s Champions League final.

The showpiece game 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. Nigeria played their last group stage match with Argentina which the Super Eagles lost to crash out of the tournament.

“We are dealing with this situation with the utmost seriousness and urgency. Decisions will be taken by the UEFA Executive Committee and announced immediately,” UEFA insisted yesterday.

European football’s governing body also has a major sponsorship deal with Gazprom, the Russian state energy giant.

On Thursday the German club Schalke 04 said it would remove the logo of Gazprom, its main sponsor, from the team’s shirts.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed 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.

“No decision has been taken” by UEFA to move the final but it is “studying different options”, a source with knowledge of the discussions told AFP.

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.