After two moves from Istanbul to Portugal (in 2020 in Lisbon and in 2021 in Porto) due to a pandemic, the Champions League final risks the third transfer due to war. From St. Petersburg, scheduled for May 28, the last act of the maximum continental competition could be diverted to London, under the arch of Wembley, or to another destination. “We are closely monitoring the situation but at the moment there are no plans to change the venue of the final”, the wait-and-see note dictated by UEFA.
In reality, amidst the folds of a completely different kind of crisis between Russia and Ukraine, a diplomatic and political match is also being played to sort one of the most followed sporting events in the world elsewhere. The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, speaking in the House of Commons, officially kicked off: «It should not be possible to organize international sporting events, such as the Champions League final, in a nation that invades other sovereign states. What Putin is doing risks being in disaster: Russia will be more isolated, will suffer international sanctions and will not have the chance to host football events ». Some MEPs wrote directly to Aleksander Ceferin, number one in the European football government, asking for “the transfer of the Champions League final from St. Petersburg and the termination of the sponsorship relationship with Gazprom”. Detail, the latter, not exactly secondary at an economic and financial level: the Russian gas giant, also owner of the infamous Nordstream 2 gas pipeline, has long been – with a lot of renewal signed last summer – one of the most generous sponsors of Europeans, Champions and Europa League and the holder of the “naming rights” on the stadium designated for the final.
The first cat to peel, calendar in hand, will be FIFA: in a month (March 24) in Moscow there would be Russia-Poland, the semifinal of that branch of the playoffs that are worth a place for the Qatar World Cup.