The Champions League final will not played in St. Petersburg

Uefa will meet on Friday and is expected to decide to move the Champions League final, scheduled for May 28 at the Gazprom Arena in St. Petersburg, in light of the military attack perpetrated this morning by Russia against Ukraine. In a note, Uefa specifies that it "shares the significant concern of the international community about the development of the security situation in Europe and strongly condemns the ongoing Russian military invasion in Ukraine. As the governing body of European soccer, Uefa is working tirelessly to develop and promote soccer according to common European values such as peace and respect for human rights, in the spirit of the Olympic Charter. We remain resolute in our solidarity with the football community in Ukraine and are ready to extend our hand to the Ukrainian people. We are addressing this situation with the utmost seriousness and urgency. Decisions will be taken by the Uefa Executive and announced tomorrow".

An inevitable decision given the geopolitical situation that is being created and how many athletes of various sports have already expressed their decision not to participate in sporting events on Russian territory. The British government was the first to express how "it would be inconceivable", in the words of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to keep the Russian venue of the last act while Karl-Erik Nilsson, president of the Swedish Football Association, announced that it is "practically unthinkable" that the national team of Sweden could take the field in the Playoffs for the 2022 World Cup. Sweden must face the Czech Republic on March 24, the same day as the other match between Russia and Poland. Should Sweden and Russia advance on May 29, they would play for access to Qatar 2022 on Russian soil. But the events of the last few hours could also lead to the direct exclusion of Putin's national team from the Playoffs.