The 2023 Europa League final takes place in Budapest, Hungary
Featured image credit: Puskás Aréna
UEFA has awarded the 2026 Champions League final to the Puskás Aréna, but has delayed granting the 2027 event to the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza amid the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the long-term future of the current home of AC Milan and Inter Milan.
UEFA assigned hosting rights for the 2026 and 2027 finals of its club competitions at an Executive Committee meeting held today (Wednesday) in Dublin ahead of the staging of this season’s Europa League final between Atalanta and Bayer 04 Leverkusen at Aviva Stadium.
Puskás Aréna and the venue better known as the San Siro were the only two bidders for the Champions League finals as UEFA declared in July that it had received declarations of interest from nine member associations for its club competition finals in 2026 and 2027.
With Wembley Stadium hosting this season’s Champions League final, between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, on June 1, the event will head to Munich’s Allianz Arena next year before travelling to Puskás Aréna. The stadium in Budapest, Hungary, has hosted a variety of UEFA events since opening in 2019, including last year’s Europa League final.
UEFA today said that a decision on the 2027 final has been suspended until September, subject to the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) submitting information on refurbishment plans for the San Siro.
Earlier this month, the Mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, said a project currently being drawn up by Italian construction company Webuild is the only path forward for the Meazza, after the Municipality of Milan lost an appeal against protected status restrictions related to the venue.
The Municipality in October launched an appeal against a decision placing protected status on the Meazza, effectively preventing the original plans by AC Milan and Inter Milan to demolish the facility and build a replacement adjacent to it.
The Municipality presented an appeal to the Regional Administrative Court (TAR) of Lombardy-Milan to secure an annulment of the opinion presented by the Archaeological, Fine Arts and Landscape Superintendence for the Metropolitan City of Milan on July 26, followed by another from the Regional Commission for the Cultural Heritage of Lombardy on July 27.
These related to the classification of the second tier of the Meazza, along with the west stand, as structures of cultural interest. During a meeting held in May last year, despite apparent pressure from AC Milan and Inter Milan, the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape was said to have confirmed that it would not lift protected status from the Meazza.
This relates to the stadium’s second tier and towers, which were built in 1955 and under historical constraints related to public-owned property are due to be afforded protected status after 70 years, therefore in 2025.
In February, Webuild was asked to deliver a feasibility study in three months concerning the redevelopment of the Meazza, in order for it to remain the home of Milan and Inter. Both clubs are currently pursuing separate stadium projects, Milan in San Donato Milanese and Inter in Rozzano.
In other news from today’s meeting, Beşiktaş Park in Istanbul landed two finals in the form of the 2026 Europa League and 2027 Conference League. Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt secured the 2027 Europa League final, with Bucharest’s National Arena and Glasgow’s Hampden Park having originally also been in contention for the two games of UEFA’s secondary men’s tournament.
In addition to the 2027 final in Istanbul, the Conference League will conclude in Leipzig’s Red Bull Arena in 2026. Hampden Park was also originally in contention for these games, along with Jerusalem’s Teddy Stadium, Oslo’s Ullevaal Stadion and Geneva’s Stade de Genève.
Ullevaal Stadion did find success in securing the 2026 Women’s Champions League final, but UEFA said a new bidding procedure will be opened for the 2027 event as Germany had already landed finals in 2026 and 2027 meaning the bid of Stuttgart could not be considered.
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