UEFA Champions League Final Likely Pulling Out Of Russian City Amid Invasion

deadline.com:

European soccer’s governing body UEFA is holding a special meeting of its executive committee Friday in which it is widely expected it will move to change the location of its UEFA Champions League final, which had been set for May 28 at Gazprom Arena in St.

Petersburg. The globe’s marquee club tournament is currently underway with Round of 16 games.UEFA said in a statement Thursday that it “strongly condemns the ongoing Russian military invasion in Ukraine.”“As the governing body of European football, UEFA is working tirelessly to develop and promote football according to common European values such as peace and respect for human rights, in the spirit of the Olympic Charter,” it added. “We remain resolute in our solidarity with the football community in Ukraine and stand ready to extend our hand to the Ukrainian people.”Russia’s invasion of Ukraine overnight Wednesday has spurred reactions and condemnations around the soccer world.The federations of Sweden, Poland and the Czech Republic today sent a letter to the head of world soccer body FIFA requesting their 2022 World Cup playoff games that include Russia and are scheduled for next month not be played on Russian soil.“The military escalation that we are observing entails serious consequences and considerably lower safety for our national football teams and official delegations,” the letter read, adding, “We expect FIFA and UEFA to react immediately and to present alternative solutions…”FIFA, which also condemned the attack, said that “regarding football matters in both Ukraine and Russia, [it] will continue to monitor the situation and updates in relation to the upcoming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers will be communicated in due course.”In Germany, meanwhile,