A meeting under high tension. This is the program of the emergency executive committee that UEFA provoked on Friday. As it started at 10 a.m., what can we expect from it?
The Champions League final
This is a topic that has been discussed for several weeks. The Big Ears Cup final, scheduled for St. Petersburg, should be relocated. Wembley is mentioned, just like Hungary, with Budapest. If the option to withdraw this privilege from Russia could be formalized, no announcement of a replacement location should be made after this meeting.
The Russian selection
If they had nothing to do with the conflict, Russian players could well suffer the consequences. Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic have announced that they do not want to go to Russia to compete in the World Cup play-offs. If an exclusion is not planned, it will be necessary to decide on the international matches mixing not only the “Sbornaïa” but also those of Ukraine.
The gas sponsors
Schalke 04 has already announced that it is parting ways with its Russian sponsor, Gazprom. The Brits are pushing for some resounding decisions regarding the other teams involved. The owner of Chelsea, the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, for example, was banned from the territory. Gazprom has been linked to UEFA since 2012 and is the main sponsor of the Champions League. The company must pay 40 million euros per year until 2024 according to the deal it signed last May.
Hectic debates
If the list of representatives has not filtered, the 27 federation presidents should meet. This includes Ukrainian Andrii Pavlenko but also Alexander Dyukov, the Russian. The latter is also the executive director of Gazprom. Something to add a little more politics and finance to the debates.
