Champions League final moved to Porto
The Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea on 29 May has been moved to Porto, UEFA has announced.
Estádio do Dragão in Porto will host the game after Istanbul was ruled out due to Covid-19.
The final was originally scheduled to take place at the Atatürk Olympic Stadiuml but, following the UK government’s decision to place Turkey on its red list of travel destinations, staging the final there would have meant none of the clubs’ domestic fans would be able to travel to the game.
In a statement, UEFA said: “After a year of fans being locked out of stadiums, UEFA thought that everything needed to be done to ensure the supporters of the two finalist teams could attend.
“UEFA discussed moving the match to England but, despite exhaustive efforts on the part of the Football Association and the authorities, it was not possible to achieve the necessary exemptions from UK quarantine arrangements.
“The Portuguese authorities and the FPF stepped in and worked quickly and seamlessly with UEFA to offer a fitting venue for the final and, as Portugal is a green list destination for England, fans and players attending the final will not have to quarantine on their return home.
“The decision does not come without big regret for the work that the Turkish football authorities have done over the last two years to ensure the successful staging of the final in Istanbul.”
UEFA has promised to seek a further opportunity for Istanbul.
The stadium capacity for the match has to be finalised but 6,000 tickets per club will go on sale in the coming days.
The number of fans from each team who will be able to attend is the same as was planned in Istanbul.
