Erdogan slams UEFA over Champions League final venue change
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday slammed UEFA for moving the Champions League final from Istanbul to Porto. Erdogan described the decision as "political" and lashed out at the organisers: "Two years ago we were notified of the decision that the Champions League would be played in Turkey, but things changed abruptly when two English teams qualified for the final," he said in a televised appearance.
"We could not keep up with what the British prime minister [Boris Johnson] has done since then, he has pushed very hard on this issue," the Turkish president revealed. The Ottoman federation tried to convince UEFA emissaries and British ministers to revoke the measure, without success. In return, Istanbul was promised to host the Champions League final in 2023, according to Erdogan himself.
Originally, the Atatürk Olympic Stadium was to be the venue for the continent's - and possibly the season's - biggest game, which pits Chelsea against Manchester City on 29 May. However, the British government placed Turkey on the "red list" for travel due to its epidemiological situation in order to avoid travel.
UK Transport Minister Grant Shapps said that fans of both clubs "should not travel to Turkey for the final", as these destinations "should not be visited except in the most extreme circumstances". The transport minister also said British citizens should be quarantined for 10 days on the return of the expedition. This could also affect the footballers themselves, a factor that could be detrimental to their preparation for Euro 2020, which kicks off on 11 June.
For this reason, Boris Johnson's cabinet set to work to convince UEFA to change the venue. Shapps himself previously admitted that the British government was "open" to hosting the match and, in the end, the executive offered Wembley Stadium as an alternative venue for the final. However, the delegations were unable to reach an agreement due to the maintenance of the required quarantine period in the UK, UEFA announced.
Instead, the Portuguese Football Federation intervened in collusion with the Portuguese authorities to offer a suitable venue for the final. The country's presence on the UK government's "green list" coupled with the lack of a mandatory quarantine period on the return of fans to the UK tipped the balance in favour of the Porto venue.
Therefore, UEFA made official last week the change of venue for the Champions League final. This is the second consecutive year that the organisation has decided to change the location of the match due to COVID-19. The Estadio do Dragão will host the final, replacing the Istanbul venue, remembered for the legendary 2004 final between Milan and Liverpool.
The abrupt change of venue is another blow to Turkey's economic aspirations. Beyond the footballing aspect, Champions League finals generate an unprecedented activation of the tourist and commercial sector in the cities. The Lisbon final in 2014, which pitted Real Madrid against Atlético de Madrid, brought in a total of 46 million euros for the Portuguese capital.
The pandemic reduced the number of spectators at the stadium to a minimum during last year's final, but this year an estimated 12,000 fans are expected to fill the stands of the Portuguese stadium. A tasty treat for any local economy in times of tourist blockade, even more so for the already struggling Turkish economy.
The decision taken by UEFA has been the subject of friction between London and Ankara, after the Turkish president interpreted the move as an affront. Despite the indeterminacy of recent months, relations between the two states have been fluid. The two states start from opposing positions to the European Union and sealed a free trade agreement in December 2020.
The United Kingdom is Turkey's second largest export market and even ranks first in the household appliances sector. The Business Council for relations between the two countries estimated an increase of 30 per cent as a result of this agreement, and put the volume at 20 billion dollars by 2023.
The relationship between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Erdogan did not get off to a good start. Johnson won a £1,000 prize in 2016 - before he got to Downing Street - for a satirical poem about Turkey's president having sex with a goat.
The article was published in The Spectator magazine in response to a Hamburg court's preliminary injunction banning the republication of an offensive satire on the Turkish president by comedian Jan Böhmermann. "If someone wants to make a joke about love blossoming between the Turkish president and a goat, they should be able to do it, in any European country, including Turkey," Johnson said in an interview.
