Champions League final could be moved for fourth year in-a-row

There are concerns over Istanbul playing host to the Champions League final this year, meaning that it could be moved for the fourth year in-a-row.

It's a lifetime ago that Jurgen Klopp told Liverpool fans to book their hotels for Istanbul, believing that his team were surely going to make another European final this year.

The German was reminded about his prophecy after the Reds were dumped out of the tournament by Real Madrid in the quarter finals, losing 6-2 to Real Madrid.

Perhaps losing and not going to Turkey will actually work out for fans who did get organised well in advance, with the final's chances of taking part in Istanbul under threat.

The city, which famously hosted Liverpool's comeback victory over AC Milan in 2005, was meant to be the location for the final back in 2020.

When Covid struck the world, and delayed football for several months, teams played in a tournament style over a week period in Lisbon.

The same happened in 2021, with England adding Turkey to the list of red zone countries, with Manchester City and Chelsea facing in Porto.

Last year the final was initially meant to be in Russia, but the invasion of Ukraine led to UEFA moving the game to Paris, where there were major issues.

2023 was once again supposed to be Istanbul but, according to the Independent, the Ataturk Stadium could once again miss out, due to potential political unrest in the country.

UEFA have "sufficient concerns" over the election of the presidency of the country next month, with the potential of a close election possibly leading to real unrest.

Real Madrid could be lifting the trophy once again. Image: Alamy

UEFA have contingency plans for what they'd do, should they need to change things up once again, and they may have to wait till after the semi finals to make a decision.

The second legs of the final four will be finished on May 17th, three days after the elections in Turkey, when unrest could have already set in.

City fans will certainly think they have a good chance of getting to a second final, although their supporters might end up in Turkey at the wrong time of year.

Last week they came up with a new chant, which included them singing about being in Istanbul in May, at least 10 days before the game takes place on June 10th.

Topics: Champions League, Turkey, UEFA, Manchester City, Benfica, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Napoli, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Real Madrid

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

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