Turkey election unrest could force Champions League final venue switch

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Uefa have contingency plans in case any unrest over the Turkish election causes the Champions League final to again be moved from Istanbul.

While the European governing body’s stance is that the 2023 showpiece will take place in the Turkish city, sufficient concerns have been raised about the potential for political strife, raising the spectre of troops on the ground shortly before one of the planet’s premier sporting events.

Uefa have also taken a lot of lessons from the last few years, which saw all of the last three finals moved from their original venues at short notice. It was twice switched from Istanbul due to Covid, with the 2020 event moved to Lisbon and the 2021 fixture to Porto.

The election is to take place on 14 May, a month before the 12 June showpiece match, with support for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s autocratic presidential rule having broken down. That has led to the likelihood of a close election, which political experts have warned could bring unrest on either side.

If that is the case, Uefa would consider moving the match again and are now much better prepared to do so after the adjustments of the last three seasons. While the nature of the Covid pandemic in 2020 necessitated the postponement of the knock-out stages and a move to a closed-stadium mini-tournament in Lisbon, the 2021 event was supposed to be held in Istanbul until just a few weeks beforehand.

A Covid surge saw the country put on the United Kingdom travel red list, which meant it was unfeasible for a match between Chelsea and Manchester City to take place there.

Last season’s final was then supposed to take place in St Petersburg, only for the invasion of Ukraine to see it moved as part of the sporting isolation of Russia. Uefa opened an ad hoc bidding process for that match, but it would be unlikely to go to that level if there is strife in Istanbul, due to how close it would be to the final.

The Champions League quarter-final second legs take place this week across Tuesday and Wednesday nights.