UEFA calls special meeting for Friday

The European Football Union (UEFA) has called a special Executive Committee meeting following Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

The committee will meet on Friday (10:00 a.m.) “to assess the situation and make all the necessary decisions,” the continental association announced on Thursday.

The Champions League final is currently scheduled for May 28 in St. Petersburg, Russia. After the escalation in Ukraine, UEFA initially left open the possibility of relocating the final. The Russian state-owned company Gazprom is one of UEFA’s biggest sponsors.

Further information on the procedure “will be announced after the UEFA Executive Committee meeting,” it said. In DFB interim president Rainer Koch and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the former CEO of Bayern Munich, there are also two German representatives on the executive committee.

No changes were initially planned for games in the Europa League involving Russian teams either. UEFA is “in close contact with the national associations and clubs concerned,” it said on Tuesday: “All games will currently take place as planned.” Two Russian teams remain in the competition in Zenit St. Petersburg and Spartak Moscow.

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