The Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea will be played at Porto's Estadio do Dragão on May 29, instead of Istanbul's Atatürk Olympic Stadium, to allow 6,000 fans from each team to attend, UEFA announced today.
Players and staff from Colombian side Junior and Argentina's River Plate were left rubbing their eyes in discomfort after police fired tear gas at protesters outside the stadium ahead of their Copa Libertadores match in Barranquilla on Wednesday.
Demonstrations fueled by outrage at a now-canceled tax plan have grown in Colombia over the last two weeks.
Television pictures earlier showed the River team cutting short their warm-up on the pitch due to similar discomfort at the Romelio Martínez Stadium in Barranquilla, the city which will host the Copa América final in July.
ANKARA - UEFA has moved this month's Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea to Porto from Istanbul, two Turkish Football Federation sources said on Wednesday.
The sources said Turkey was expecting to host the 2023 Champions League final in Istanbul, as part of the agreement with European soccer's ruling body.
UEFA declined to comment.
Ajax Amsterdam have found an ingenious way to reward their fans for putting up with missing much of a title-winning season, melting down their Eredivisie trophy to give tiny silver stars to more than 42,000 season-ticket holders.
Each star will weigh 3.45g and contain 0.06g from the trophy, which was awarded to Ajax for their 35th league triumph, with the Royal Dutch Football Association giving the club a replica to display in their trophy cabinet.
The status of the Champions League final on May 29 between Manchester City and Chelsea in Istanbul was thrown into doubt on Friday after the UK government placed Turkey on the red list for travel.
British transport minister Grant Shapps said that travel to red list countries was not allowed except for in "the most extreme circumstances" and anyone returning from a red list country has to enter and pay for compulsory hotel quarantine.
"It does mean that fans should not travel to Turkey," said Shapps, who raised the possibility of the match being moved to England.
The world was prepared for mass dissent at Old Trafford ahead of Manchester United’s hosting of Liverpool in Premier League action on Sunday with The Manchester Evening News predicting over 10,000 fans outside the ground in protest of Glazer ownership and their failed European Super League coup d'état.
MANCHESTER, England - It has certainly been a year of sporting contrasts for American businessman Joel Glazer.
In February, he was in celebratory mood, raising the Vince Lombardi trophy as his NFL team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the Super Bowl, led by veteran quarterback Tom Brady.
Three months later, Glazer's Premier League soccer team, Manchester United, had to call off their match against rivals Liverpool following violent protests against the American's ownership of the club.