Champions League Final: Meeting Set on Move to London

The decision would mean pulling the game from Istanbul for the second year in a row. Last year’s decisive Champions League matches — the tournament was postponed on the eve of the quarterfinals last spring because of the spreading coronavirus pandemic — were played in a so-called bubble environment in Lisbon. They were moved only after Turkish officials had agreed to surrender their coveted role as host of the final in exchange for a promise that Istanbul would host the final this year.

Officials in Portugal have told UEFA that they could accommodate this year’s final on short notice, too, perhaps in Porto, after the British government on Friday included Portugal in a list of countries its citizens could travel to without having to quarantine upon their return.

Turkey recently entered a new lockdown amid a rise in virus cases, and was placed on the red list, a group of countries for which travel from Britain is actively discouraged. Turkey, a popular destination for British tourists, had said it would lift its lockdown on May 17, 12 days before the Champions League final, but government officials had warned soccer fans to stay home.

“First of all, it does mean with regards to the Champions League, fans should not travel to Turkey,” Grant Schapps, the British lawmaker responsible for transport, told a news conference after announcing the new regulations for travel in and out of Britain.

Making matters more complicated is a 10-day quarantine requirement for individuals who return to Britain after being given cleared to travel from red list countries. That would mean more than a dozen players on both squads potentially being ruled out of preparations for the European Championship, the quadrennial Continent soccer championship, that begins on June 11.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/09/sports/soccer/champions-league-final-chelsea-man-city-london.html