UEFA Moves Champions League Final to Porto, Portugal

UEFA has on Thursday announced that this month’s all-English Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea will be played in Porto, Portugal after talks to bring the game to London failed to produce an agreement.

The match on May 29 will be played in Estádio do Dragão’s capacity of about 50,000 which has been reduced to less than half that figure as City and Chelsea are expected to receive 6,000 tickets each for their fans to allow English spectators attend since travel between the UK and Turkey is suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“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,” UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said in a statement.

“After the year that fans have endured, it is not right that they don’t have the chance to watch their teams in the biggest game of the season,” he added.

UK citizens returning from red list countries are required to quarantine at a government-approved hotel for 10 days.

Earlier this week, newspaper reports claimed the match would be played at Wembley Stadium as supporters groups from the Blues and City had requested the game be moved to England.