Uefa finals: How are host stadiums chosen?

The men’s Champions League final is typically held in stadiums with a capacity of at least 65,000, and in the past four seasons only stadiums with more than 70,000 seats have been chosen.

Only three stadiums with a capacity less than 60,000 have hosted the Champions League final this century – Hampden Park in Glasgow in 2002 (51,866), Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen in 2004 (54,740), and Porto’s Estadio do Dragao (50,033) in the Covid-impacted 2021 final.

For the Europa League, the most recent letter of invitation circulated by Uefa stipulated bidding stadiums were required to have a capacity of 40,000-60,000.

The Conference League was launched by Uefa in 2021 with the goal of giving clubs in less economically strong national leagues the opportunity to compete in the latter stages of European competition, and so far the tournament’s finals have been held in smaller stadiums in countries that do not typically host major events.

The 42,000-capacity Wroclaw Stadion in Poland, which will host the 2024-25 showpiece, will become the largest to have hosted the Conference League final.

In previous seasons, the Agia Sophia Stadium in Athens (32,500) and the Fortuna Arena in Prague (19,370) have both hosted the final.