Wembley’s Champions League final is PUT BACK to 2024 as UEFA move all host venue plans back a year after confirming this year’s ‘final eight’ tournament in Lisbon
- Wembley was originally meant to stage the 2023 Champions League final
- But with the venue for this year’s final changing, it has been pushed back a year
- Istanbul will now host the 2021 final, St Petersburg in 2022 and Munich in 2023
- It follows the announcement of this year’s ‘final eight’ tournament in Lisbon
- A similar venue push back has also been implemented for Europa League finals
The Champions League final at Wembley, scheduled originally for 2023, will be held a year later in 2024 as part of plans unveiled by UEFA today.
European football’s governing body have announced a host of changes to this season’s European competitions – with confirmation of ‘final eight’ tournaments in Lisbon for this season’s Champions League and in Germany for this season’s Europa League – and the locations of future finals.
UEFA confirmed that with Istanbul unable to host this year’s final as originally planned, all host venues for subsequent years will be pushed back, with the Ataturk Olympic Stadium now hosting the 2021 final.
Wembley Stadium, due to hold the 2023 Champions League final, will now host in 2024
The 2019-20 Champions League will be completed via a mini-tournament in Lisbon in August
The original 2020 host, the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, will now host the 2021 final
The Gazprom Arena in St Petersburg will now host the 2022 Champions League final, the Allianz Arena in Munich the 2023 edition and Wembley Stadium in London the 2024 edition.
Similarly with the Europa League, with this year’s final being held in Cologne, as part of the mini-tournament in Germany, the original host – the Polish city of Gdansk – will host the final in 2021.
As such, all confirmed hosts for subsequent years will be pushed back, with Seville now hosting in 2022 and Budapest in 2023.
Wembley last hosted the Champions League final in 2013, when Bayern Munich beat Borussia Dortmund, and also hosted the 2011 showpiece in which Barcelona overcame Manchester United.
Bayern Munich won the 2013 Champions League final, the last to be staged at Wembley
The Champions League, won last year by Liverpool, and its format have been altered this year
This season, in the Champions League, the ‘final eight’ tournament will be held over 12 days in Lisbon, with the first match taking place on August 12 and the final being played on August 23.
If the remaining four last-16 games cannot be completed at the scheduled home stadiums, Porto and Guimaraes will be added as potential venues for the matches, alongside Lisbon.
Instead of playing the quarter-finals over two legs as normal, the new plan will see the ties become single games across four straight days.
Benfica’s home stadium, the Estadio da Luz, will host the 2020 Champions League final
The semi-finals, which will also be played over one leg, will take place on August 18 and 19, with the final at the Estadio da Luz four days later.
Meanwhile, the quarter-finals onwards in the Europa League will similarly be played over one-leg in four German cities: Cologne, Duisburg, Düsseldorf and Gelsenkirchen between the 10-21 August, with the final in Cologne on August 21.
As with the Champions League, the venues for the remaining last-16 games will be decided in due course – but will be held over the 5-6 August.