The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) said Friday that it has pulled its flagship Champions League final match out of St. Petersburg, Russia, and moved it to Paris. "Together with the French government, UEFA will fully support multi-stakeholder efforts to ensure the provision of rescue for football players and their families in Ukraine who face dire human suffering, destruction, and displacement" in this "time of unparalleled crisis," UEFA said.
The May 28 championship game, the biggest club soccer match in the world, will now be held at the Stade de France, which also hosted the 2006 final. EUFA had chosen St. Petersburg's Gazprom Arena, named after the Russian state-owned oil giant, for the 2021 finals in 2019, but that season was postponed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gazprom is a top UEFA sponsor, and a member of its executive committee, Alexander Dyukov, is CEO of a Gazprom subsidiary, The Associated Press reports.
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