GENEVA (AP) — Barcelona’s renovated Camp Nou was picked over Wembley Stadium in London to host the 2029 Champions League final, UEFA said Tuesday, in a further sign of their rebuilt relations after the divisive European Super League project.
The choice gives Barcelona a marquee game one year before Spain co-hosts the 2030 World Cup with Portugal and Morocco. Staging that final is a contest between Real Madrid’s renovated Santiago Bernabéu home and the 115,000-seat
stadium being built in Casablanca.
UEFA’s executive committee also confirmed the 2028 Champions League final will return to Bayern Munich’s stadium, which was the only bidder, just three years after the 2025 edition.
Barcelona's victory comes seven months after its formal withdrawal from legal action against UEFA linked to the Super League driven by storied clubs led by Real Madrid that quickly failed in 2021.
The much-delayed rebuild of a 105,000-seat Camp Nou, which will be the biggest soccer stadium in Europe, is ongoing with the upper tier and roof still under construction.
“In addition to its size,” Barcelona said Tuesday in a statement, “it offers a hospitality and VIP experience that is unique in Europe, enabling new standards of service and comfort for guests and fans alike.”
The extra size also should allow more fans of the two finalist teams to get tickets. Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal each got allocated 17,200 tickets from the 61,400 available to buy for the Champions League final played in May at the Puskas Arena in Budapest.
Barcelona last hosted the Champions League final in 1999, when Manchester United’s two stoppage-time goals stunned a dominant Bayern team. Camp Nou also staged the 1989 European Cup final.
Wembley has hosted three times since Barcelona's last turn — in 2011, 2013 and 2024 — and eight times in total since the European Cup started 71 years ago.
This season's Champions League final goes to Madrid at Atletico's Metropolitano stadium.
Record eight-time Women’s Champions League winner Lyon will host the final in 2028.
UEFA also picked Cardiff for the 2029 women’s final in the city center national stadium that will host the opening game of the men’s 2028 European Championship.
UEFA also picked hosts for two editions of the second-tier Europa League: Romania’s national stadium in Bucharest in 2028 and in 2029 at the new Serbian national venue being built on the outskirts of Belgrade.
Serbian soccer has developed closer to ties to UEFA and will co-host the men's Under-21 Euros next year with Albania.
The decision Tuesday comes just nine days after players and fans from Belgrade's biggest clubs, Red Star and Partizan, paid tribute at a game in the city's current main soccer stadium to convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic who died last month in The Hague.
UEFA fined Red Star this month for fans chanting in honor of Mladic at a Europa League game on the day he died.
The Europa League final this season is at Eintracht Frankfurt’s Waldstadion home.
Turin will get the 2028 final of the third-tier men's club competition at Juventus’ 41,000-seat stadium. The 2029 final will be at the 67,000-seat Puskás Aréna in Budapest.
The success of the Conference League since launching in 2021 has seen its finals venues outgrow the 20,000-seat venues for the first two title matches held in Tirana, Albania and Czech capital Prague.
Juventus also is rewarded by UEFA after it pulled out of the Super League legal action in 2023.
Real Madrid was the last of the 12 Super League founders to drop the project and settled with UEFA in February. The Bernabéu, now with crowds of 78,000 for the biggest games, has hosted a European Cup or Champions League final four times though not since 2010.
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