Feature

Wanda Metropolitano to host 2019 Champions League final

Wanda Metropolitano stadium, new home to Spanish LaLiga football club Atletico Madrid, will host the 2019 Uefa Champions League final.

The 67,000-seat venue opened its doors for the first time three days ago with Atletico’s 1-0 win over Malaga, in which Antoine Griezmann scored the stadium’s first goal.

Wanda Metropolitano was chosen to host the Champions League final ahead of Baku’s Olympic stadium in Azerbaijan, which was the only other candidate in the running to hold the game in June 2019.

Baku’s stadium , which has a 69,870 capacity, will instead host the Europa League final in 2019, while that year’s Super Cup will be staged at the Besiktas Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey.

The decisions were made at Wednesday’s Uefa Executive Committee meeting in Nyon, Switzerland.

The Champions League previously held its finals in Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu in 1957, 1969, 1980 and 2010. The city is the second to have hosted five or more European Cup finals after London.

Atletico said in a statement: “The Wanda Metropolitano will host the 2019 Champions League final. Our new stadium has been chosen by Uefa to host the decisive game in the biggest continental competition next season.

“It will be the first big international final held at our stadium, which opened on Sept. 16 last in a La Liga game of Atletico against Malaga [1-0]. Atletico Madrid are proud that Uefa trusts in our facilities for the biggest game in the Champions League.”

Image: Atletico Madrid