When should a country not be allowed to host a football game? When it is difficult to get there? Perhaps: it took most Arsenal fans several days to get to Azerbaijan for the Europa League final where they were playing — wait for it — Chelsea. If football isn’t popular there? Maybe, though it might help to grow interest.
How about when the country is trying to conquer one of its neighbours?
This year’s Champions League final is set to be held on May 28 in St Petersburg, Russia. It was a decision taken by UEFA in 2019 which, granted, was only five years after Russia had snatched Crimea and a year after they’d hosted the World Cup. Bad enough, you might say — and I’d agree.
This time, though, there is a very real possibility if Russia persists on its present course that it will be engaged in war on Ukraine, having already amassed nearly 200,000 troops on the borders.
BBC News could well go straight from footage of the destruction Putin’s war machine has wreaked that day to the Gazprom Arena, where a smiling Putin has been hosting the game.
The Champions League final is second in prestige only to the World Cup final. It draws a global audience of more than 400 million people, not far below the 517 million who watched the last World Cup final. The eyes of the world will be on this event, and heads of state are usually the guests of honour.
As a Liverpool fan, I have some experience of Champions League finals and who gets tickets. Typically, only half the tickets go to the clubs actually in the final. The rest go to sponsors and UEFA. Hospitality tickets sold by UEFA range from €4,300 to €4,900. The global elite fly in from all over the world and go to champagne receptions in the run-up to the game.
It is not up to the UK government, but the prime minister was clear yesterday that there should be “no chance of holding football tournaments in a Russia that invades sovereign countries”.
However, UEFA say they have no plans to move the final, despite having moved it in the last two seasons because of the pandemic.
This is not the first time that a sports governing body, least of all a football one, has taken a questionable stance that ignores the actions of a host country. But can UEFA really justify the spectacle of the football elite quaffing champagne and caviar with Putin while his tanks roll across a sovereign territory?
I’m not pitching for the final to be moved to the UK, or saying the teams (hopefully including Liverpool) should boycott the final. This is not like an Olympic Games, which come along only every four years and can’t be moved very easily after years of planning.
This is a simple decision that requires UEFA to take a stand and deny Putin the status that hosting such an event gives a country. It is a status he does not deserve.
Let’s ban Russia from hosting the Champions League final | The Times
