Atletico Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano has been chosen by UEFA to host the 2019 Champions League final.
Atletico’s new stadium only opened on Saturday for their 1-0 La Liga win over Malaga, but has now been selected to stage European club football’s biggest game next season on June 1, 2019.
The Wanda Metropolitano, which was built on the site of the former Estadio Olimpico de Madrid in the Spanish capital, has replaced the Vicente Calderon as Atletico’s home.
It beat off competition from the Olympic Stadium in Baku, which will instead host the 2019 Europa League final, while Besiktas’ Vodafone Park will stage the 2019 UEFA Super Cup. The decisions were taken at Wednesday’s UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Nyon.
An honour for all the Atléticos!!!!! The Wanda @Metropolitano will host the 2019 @ChampionsLeague final!!!! #RoadToMadrid #UCLFinal2019 pic.twitter.com/gWXgb7liU4
— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) September 20, 2017
Atletico said in a statement: “The Wanda Metropolitano will host the 2019 Champions League final. Our new stadium has been chosen by UEFA to host the decisive game in the biggest continental competition next season.
“It will be the first big international final held at our stadium, which opened on Sept. 16 last in a La Liga game of Atletico against Malaga [1-0]. Atletico Madrid are proud that UEFA trusts in our facilities for the biggest game in the Champions League.”
Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu has previously staged the European Cup and Champions League finals of 1957, 1969, 1980 and 2010, meaning Madrid will become just the second city to have hosted the event five or more times after London.
The Spanish capital will also become the fourth city to have hosted the event in separate stadiums after Amsterdam, Paris and Munich, while the Wanda Metropolitano will be the fourth Spanish stadium to stage the game — after the Santiago Bernabeu, Barcelona’s Camp Nou and Sevilla’s Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
Kiev is to stage the 2018 final, which will take place on May 26 at the NSK Olimpiyskiy Stadium.
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