Joe GallopThe UEFA Champions League final between Chelsea and Manchester City on 29 May has been moved from Istanbul to Portugal, with Wembley Stadium (90,000) missing out.
UEFA has announced that 6,000 fans from each team will be able to attend FC Porto’s Estádio do Dragão. The total capacity of the stadium has not been confirmed yet.
The match was originally moved from Istanbul due to the country being on the UK’s red-list for travel. Portugal is on the green-list so English fans and players will not have to quarantine upon their return.
UEFA had discussed moving the match to Wembley, but it said it was not possible to achieve the “necessary exemptions from UK quarantine arrangements.”
UEFA said that the Portuguese authorities and the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) stepped in and worked “quickly and seamlessly” with the governing body to offer the venue for the final.
UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin said, “Fans have had to suffer more than twelve months without the ability to see their teams live and reaching a Champions League final is the pinnacle of club football. To deprive those supporters of the chance to see the match in person was not an option and I am delighted that this compromise has been found.”
Čeferin added, “We accept that the decision of the British Government to place Turkey on the red list for travel was taken in good faith and in the best interests of protecting its citizens from the spread of the virus but it also presented us with a major challenge in staging a final featuring two English teams.
“The difficulties of moving the final are great and the FA and the authorities made every effort to try to stage the match in England and I would like to thank them for their work in trying to make it happen.”