Lisbon will host this season’s Champions League final on Aug. 23 after UEFA confirmed that the final stages of the 2019-20 competition will be held in the Portuguese capital rather than Istanbul, as originally planned, ESPN reports.
Following a meeting of UEFA’s Executive Committee on Wednesday, it has also been announced that the Champions League will be completed as a mini-competition from the quarterfinal onwards, with Benfica’s Estadio da Luz and Sporting’s Estadio Jose Alvalade being used to stage the games.
The mini tournament will run from Aug. 12-23, with the round-of-16 matches completed on Aug. 7-8.
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin said: “I am delighted that we are able to resume almost all of our competitions. I am confident that we will not have to endure the fans’ absence for long and that they will be allowed into stadiums sooner rather than later.
“UEFA took a bold decision when it decided to postpone Euro 2020. But in doing so, we created the space which has allowed domestic club competitions across the continent to resume, where possible, and play to a conclusion. While the game has suffered huge difficulties as a result of the pandemic, those blows would have landed much harder if we had not shown leadership in those early days.”
With both the Champions League and Europa League competitions suspended before completion of the round of 16 in March due to the coronavirus crisis, UEFA has been forced to implement emergency measures in order to complete the two tournaments later this summer.
