Uefa to relocate showpiece: Report

STOCKHOLM • Uefa will move this year's Champions League final from St Petersburg in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a source with knowledge of the situation told Reuters yesterday.

Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin has called an extraordinary meeting of the executive committee today and it is expected to agree on moving the final.

European football's governing body said in a statement: "Uefa shares the international community's significant concern for the security situation developing in Europe and strongly condemns the ongoing Russian military invasion in Ukraine.

"We are dealing with this situation with the utmost seriousness and urgency.

"Decisions will be taken by the Uefa executive committee and announced tomorrow."

The move comes after Russia launched attacks on Ukraine yesterday following Russian President Vladimir Putin's televised address that he had approved a "special military operation".

The showcase match in European club football was set to be held at Zenit St Petersburg's stadium on May 28 - an event that would have normally drawn thousands of fans from across the continent.

The stadium is known as the Gazprom Arena after a sponsorship deal with Russia's state energy company, which also sponsors Uefa's Champions League and 2024 European Championship.

The Daily Mail reported that the London Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium are ready to step in as the replacement.

A group of European lawmakers had earlier called for a change of the Champions League final venue and to stop considering Russian cities for international football competitions.

The lawmakers, in a letter, also asked Uefa to end Gazprom's sponsorship of the Champions League, worth a reported €40 million (S$60.6 million) per season.

"We call on you to stop considering St Petersburg and other Russian cities as venues for international football competitions..." the letter read.

Separately, German side Schalke 04 would be removing Gazprom's logo from their jerseys.

The International Olympic Committee also condemned the invasion, saying the Russian government had breached the Olympic Truce that is currently in effect and which aims to harness the power of sport to promote peace and dialogue.

The conflict is set to affect other big football games.

A 2022 World Cup play-off match in Russia is "almost unthinkable" at the moment, the chairman of the Swedish Football Association said. Sweden are due to face the Czech Republic in a European play-off match on March 24, with the victors meeting the winners of the clash between Poland and Russia on March 29 for a place at the Nov 21-Dec 18 World Cup in Qatar.

"It is almost unthinkable that we in a few weeks would play a football match in Russia," Karl-Erik Nilsson told Reuters.

"There is absolutely no desire to play a football match in Russia."

But the 64-year-old stopped short of demanding that the Russians be kicked out of the World Cup qualification picture entirely.

It remains unclear if the fighting will also affect Ukraine's play-off game away to Scotland on March 24, with the winners facing either Wales or Austria five days later for another Qatar 2022 berth.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS