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UEFA has confirmed that the 2022 Champions League final will take place at the Stade de France in Paris. The final has been moved from Saint Petersburg following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The match will still be held on its scheduled date, which is 28 May.
UEFA's official statement regarding the change of venue for club football's most prestigious game is as follows:
"The UEFA Executive Committee decided to relocate the final of the 2021/22 UEFA Men’s Champions League from Saint Petersburg to Stade de France in Saint-Denis. The game will be played as initially scheduled on Saturday 28 May at 21:00 CET.
"UEFA wishes to express its thanks and appreciation to French Republic President Emmanuel Macron for his personal support and commitment to have European club football’s most prestigious game moved to France at a time of unparalleled crisis," it added.
"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," it continued.
The Stade de France has previously hosted many important football games. The venue played host to the 1998 FIFA World Cup final and the Euro 2016 final amongst others. The 80,698 capacity stadium has also hosted the final of the 2007 Rugby World Cup. In fact, the 2023 final is also scheduled to take place at the Parisian ground.
The Stade de France has also hosted two Champions League finals in the past. The first final was contested in 2000, with Real Madrid beating fellow La Liga side Valencia. The second was back in 2006 when Barcelona secured a 2-1 win over Arsenal.
UEFA has also announced that Russian and Ukrainian clubs and national teams competing in UEFA competitions will need to play their home games at neutral venues.
Paris Saint-Germain have a chance to contest a Champions League final in their home city
PSG will now have extra incentive to make it through to the Champions League final following UEFA's latest announcement. The Parisian giants secured a narrow 1-0 win over Real Madrid in the first leg of their Round of 16 clash on 16 February.
The second leg of their tie will be contested at the Santiago Bernabeu on 9 March.
It is worth mentioning that PSG have only been to one Champions League final in their history. That was back in 2020 when they suffered a 1-0 loss to Hansi Flick's Bayern Munich side.
