NYON: In the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, UEFA has changed this year's Champions League final from St Petersburg to Paris, the governing body of European soccer announced on Friday.

UEFA also stated that Ukrainian and Russian club and national teams competing in UEFA competitions would play their home games at neutral grounds "until further notice."

The governing board expressed gratitude to French President Emmanuel Macron for his "personal assistance and dedication" in tackling the final.

The 2021/22 #UCLfinal will move from Saint Petersburg to Stade de France in Saint-Denis.

The game will be played as initially scheduled on Saturday 28 May at 21:00 CET.

Full statement ⬇️

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) February 25, 2022

It added that it would "fully support multi-stakeholder efforts to ensure the provision of rescue for football players and their families in Ukraine who face dire human suffering, destruction and displacement".

The Champions League final was scheduled to take place on May 28 at Zenit St Petersburg's stadium, with thousands of fans from across the continent expecting to watch the showpiece encounter in European club soccer.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call: “It's a shame that such a decision has been made. St. Petersburg could have provided all favourable conditions to hold this festival of soccer.”

Nadine Dorries, the UK Culture Secretary in charge of sport, supported UEFA's decision.

"I welcome UEFA's decisive action to strip St Petersburg of staging this year's Champions League final.

Russia must not be allowed to exploit sporting and cultural events on the world stage to legitimise its unprovoked, premeditated and needless attack against a sovereign democratic state."

The stadium in St. Petersburg is currently known as the Gazprom Stadium, thanks to a sponsorship agreement with Russia's state energy firm, which also sponsors the Champions League and UEFA's Euro 2024 national team competition.

The decision to remove St Petersburg from the final comes after a group of European legislators petitioned UEFA on Thursday to modify the venue and cease considering Russian venues for major international soccer contests.

The legislators also requested that UEFA discontinue Gazprom's sponsorship of the continent's best club championship. However, Gazprom was not included in UEFA's statement on Friday.

The 2023 Champions League final will be held in Istanbul, with Wembley Stadium in London hosting the next year and Munich's Allianz Arena hosting the final in 2025.

Edited - SportsAction / Inputs - Agency