English golf equipment Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United are within the final 16 of the competitors, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed the state of affairs Tuesday as he spoke within the House of Commons to announce sanctions in opposition to 5 Russian banks and three Russian billionaires after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into two areas in jap Ukraine.
“A Russia that is more isolated, a Russia that has pariah status — [there is] no chance of holding football tournaments in a Russia that invades sovereign countries,” Johnson mentioned.
UEFA mentioned in a press release Tuesday that it was not planning to move the sport out of Russia however was “constantly and closely monitoring” developments. The Associated Press, citing an unnamed particular person it mentioned had data of the state of affairs, reported that the disaster over Ukraine was mentioned by top-level UEFA officers, together with group president Aleksander Ceferin.
Johnson was not the one British official to tackle the state of affairs Tuesday. Nadine Dorries, the UK’s secretary of state for digital, tradition, media and sport, mentioned on Twitter that she had “serious concerns about the sporting events due to be held in Russia, such as the Champions League Final, and will discuss with the relevant governing bodies.”
“We won’t allow President Putin to exploit events on the world stage to legitimize his illegal invasion of Ukraine,” she added.
Tracey Crouch, the previous UK sports activities minister, instructed the BBC that UEFA ought to move the final “immediately.”
There is current precedent for UEFA transferring the Champions League final from its unique web site. The group has had to relocate the occasion in every of the previous two years, each instances from Turkey to Portugal, due to the coronavirus pandemic.