Turkey will hold presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday, which could end the 20-year rule of authoritarian leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. According to polls, the opposition presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu has a chance to defeat the current president.
“The 2023 Champions League final is scheduled to take place in Istanbul. UEFA is not in discussions to the contrary with any political institutions, governments or national football associations,” UEFA said.
The Ataturk Olympic Stadium hosted the Champions League final for the first time in 2005, when Liverpool overcame AC Milan’s three-goal lead to win on penalties. At that time, the Czechs Milan Baroš and Vladimír Šmicer were also happy about the “eared” cup.
The final was supposed to take place in Istanbul for the second time in 2020, but then the coronavirus pandemic forced adjustments to the format of the millionaire competition and the rest of the season was played in Lisbon. A year later, Turkey’s most populous city was not played due to the British government placing the country on the travel “red list”, making it virtually impossible for English fans to attend the match between Manchester City and Chelsea. Even then, the final was moved to Portugal, specifically to Porto.
This year’s final will feature defending champions Real Madrid or Manchester City, whose opening match ended 1:1. The second semi-final pair consists of AC Milan and Inter. Closer to the final is Inter, who won the first match 2:0.