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Champions League final could be moved to US for first time after Uefa make major change
Uefa President has previously spoken about the suggestion
THE PROSPECT of the Champions League Final being played in the USA has grown - after Uefa dumped its long-term media sales arm for an American company.
Lucerne-based Team Marketing devised the Champions League logo and have sold the competition worldwide since the European Cup was relaunched more than 30 years ago.
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But Uefa and the European Club Association have now announced it intends to engage New York-based Relevent Sports for a six-year contract from 2027.
And that opens the door to European football’s showpiece game being staged on the other side of the Atlantic.
Uefa and the ECA run the Champions League and other club competitions through their “joint venture” UC3, with the governing body having a 51 per cent stake.
Now the UC3 board - with representatives from both parties - announced it has “entered an exclusive period of negotiation with Relevent Sports over the global commercial rights” to the competitions from 2027-2033.
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UC3 cited the decision followed an “open tender process” but means the end of more than three decades of association with Team.
Relevant Sports, created by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, has organised and run the summer International Champions Cup, regularly involving European and Prem giants, since 2013.
The company has also worked with the Premier League on its Summer Series pre-season event.
But Relevent are desperate for “meaningful” competitive matches involving the biggest European teams to be played on US soil.
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The company sued Fifa and US Soccer after it was blocked from staging LaLiga games in the US and won a victory as the two bodies withdrew from the court case.
Fifa then gave its blessing for “out of territory matches” to be staged.
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While Prem chiefs have continued to insist that matches will not be played outside the UK - a message reinforced by chief football officer Tony Scholes last week - Uefa have given more mixed messages.
In 2023, Uefa President Aleksander Ceferin described the idea of the Champions League Final being played in America as “a possibility” although senior Uefa figures then maintained it was not on the agenda.
After this year’s final in Munich, the 2026 showpiece is scheduled for Budapest’s Puskas Arena.
But future venues remain up in the air and the deal with Relevent seems a further indication that including US stadiums on the Final rota will be firmly back on the agenda.
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