Champions League final moved to Porto
The UEFA Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea has been moved from Istanbul in Turkey to Porto in Portugal UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin announced Thursday morning.
The move was taken to allow United Kingdom fans attend the all-English final The event could no longer be held in Turkey as earlier scheduled owing to the UK marking Turkey as part of the “Red List” for the coronavirus traveling restrictions.
The match will now take place at Estadio do Dragao in Porto on the scheduled date of May 29 with no fewer than 12,000 fans able to attend.
The English FA had reportedly applied to host the final at the Wembley Stadium but the details of guidelines to be observed by fans led to the failure of an agreement between the government authorities and UEFA.
UEFA reached an agreement with the Portuguese government and FA owing to the Portuguese country’s placement of the “Green list” for traveling restrictions from the UK as against the position of Turkey.
Each of the two teams appearing in the Finals, Chelsea and Manchester City will have 6,000 spectators allowed to the pitch for live experience of the match.
The Coronavirus pandemic had led to the closing of stadiums across the world in a bid to curb the spread of the Nobel virus.
Fans have had to watch away from home since the resumption of all sporting activities in most football nations with the players playing without fans cheering them on.
The shutout of spectators from the stadiums has also affected club revenues from match-day tickets as well as some other form of sponsorships.
According to information on UEFA’s website, ticket sales will begin just five days before the game on May 24 with fans expected to purchase from their clubs.
Mr Ceferin in his statement admonished the Turkish and English FAs for their efforts which sadly resulted in futility to host the final of the most prestigious football competition in Europe.
He concluded by apologising to football fans for their inability to experience their favorite teams live on the pitch for over a year due to the Coronavirus pandemic restrictions.
In the semifinal, Chelsea defeated Real Madrid to advance while Manchester City took Paris Saint Germain to the cleaners to secure their first UEFA Champions League Final appearance.
Manchester City will be hoping to defeat Chelsea to secure their first UEFA Champions League trophy while Chelsea will want to make it their second UEFA Champions League Trophy in ten years since the last one won in 2012.
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