Phil SumblerWembley will host the Championship play off final on May 29th after it was confirmed that the Chelsea v Manchester City Champions League final on the same day would be held in Portugal.
The Champions League game was originally scheduled for Istanbul but after Turkey was placed on the ‘red list’ for travel by the English government there was an offer to stage the game at Wembley. It was widely reported that should that be successful then the EFL would be ‘open’ to moving the play off final to a venue elsewhere but now it will go ahead, as originally planned, at Wembley.
This could open the door for as many as 10,000 fans from each of the two competing clubs to attend the game as part of fans returning to sports stadia.
The Swans face Barnsley in one play off semi final whilst Brentford and Bournemouth are head to head in the other one with the two winners facing each other on 29 May. All four semi final matches will be played in front of a crowd after it was confirmed by the Welsh government that the game at the Liberty would be the first to host a crowd at the venue since March 7th last year.
Meanwhile the Champions League final will have up to 6000 fans from each of the two competing clubs although they must leave Portugal straight after with Portugal’s cabinet affairs minister Mariana Vieira da Silva saying a set of rules had been put in place for those fans attending the final.
“Those who come to the final of the Champions League will come and return on the same day, with a test done, in a bubble situation, on charter flights,” she said.
“There will be two fan zones and from there they will be moved to the stadium and from the stadium to the airport, being in Portugal less than 24 hours.
“Obviously those coming by plane [to be in Porto while the match is on but do not actually go the stadium] will comply with the established rules and security measures will be put in place as happened in Lisbon last year.”
