The Champions League final between Chelsea and Manchester City will be played at Porto’s Estadio do Dragao on May 29, UEFA has confirmed.
UEFA had wanted to move the final to Wembley and was in talks with the UK Government, but there was a considerable sticking point over waiving quarantine rules for the 2,000 staff, sponsors, VIPs and foreign media.
The fixture was due to take place at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul, but pressure mounted for the venue to be changed after the UK government placed Turkey on its ‘red’ list of at-risk countries and urged fans not to travel for the fixture. UK citizens returning from red-list countries are required to quarantine at a government-approved hotel for 10 days.
UEFA confirmed 6,000 City and Chelsea fans will be allowed to attend although the overall stadium capacity is still to be finalised.
Portugal is on the government green list so UK visitors will be able to travel there from Sunday. They will not need to quarantine but they will have to take Covid-19 tests before and after they travel.
UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin said: “I think we can all agree that we hope never to experience a year like the one we have just endured.
