Champions League final: Chelsea Supporters’ Trust to request Man City clash is moved from Istanbul to UK

George Flood
·2 min read
(AFP via Getty Images)
(AFP via Getty Images)

The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) will request that the club’s all-English Champions League final showdown with Manchester City is moved from Istanbul to the UK.

The 2020/21 European football showpiece between two of England’s biggest clubs is due to be held at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium on Saturday, May 29.

However, Istanbul’s status as host city was thrown into severe doubt on Friday after Turkey was added to the UK Government’s coronavirus ‘red list’ - countries that “should not be visited except in the most extreme of circumstances, where repeated testing and isolation in designated Government hotels on return is compulsory”.

Fans were told not to travel to Istanbul by transport secretary Grant Shapps, who added in a briefing that the UK was “very open” to staging the final, with the Football Association (FA) having now entered into talks with Uefa.

And the CST have also said that they will push for such a switch during a forthcoming meeting with Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin.

“Turkey has been added to the red list and therefore no #CFC supporters can travel to watch the #UCL final,” the CST tweeted on Friday evening.

“We are meeting with the @UEFA president this week & will request that the fixture is moved to the UK.”

The UK last hosted the Champions League final in 2017, when Real Madrid thrashed Juventus 4-1 at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.

Wembley Stadium staged the match twice between 2011-13, with Barcelona and then Bayern Munich emerging victorious over Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund respectively, though the EFL Championship play-off final is currently scheduled to take place at the home of English football on May 29.

Istanbul has not hosted the Champions League final since 2005, when Rafael Benitez’s Liverpool produced their epic comeback against AC Milan at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium.

Last year’s final was designated to take place in the Turkish capital, only for the Covid-19 pandemic to force a reorganisation of the tournament’s final stages, which took place exclusively in Lisbon.

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UK in talks to host Champions League final after Turkey put on ‘red list’

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