San Siro stripped of hosting 2027 men's UCL final

UEFA has re-opened the bidding process to stage the 2027 Champions League final after stripping Milan's San Siro Stadium of the hosting rights.

The San Siro, the home ground of AC Milan and Inter Milan, last staged the Champions League final in 2016 when Real Madrid defeated Atlético Madrid following a penalty shoot-out.

UEFA announced Milan as the 2027 host city in May this year at the same time as confirming the Puskás Aréna in Budapest, Hungary, as the venue for the 2026 Champions League final.

But despite confirming Milan as the 2027 venue, UEFA did so on the proviso that the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) submitted information in the plans for the multi-million pound refurbishment of the San Siro.

Those plans remain uncertain with both Milan and Inter considering moving out of the San Siro, officially named the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, due to an ongoing battle to secure funding for the renovation of the existing stadium.

If funds cannot be secured, the 75,817-capacity San Siro, which opened in 1926, could be demolished.

And with the future of the stadium still shrouded in doubt, UEFA has announced that it will now seek a new host venue for the 2027 Champions League final following a meeting of its Executive Committee on Tuesday.

A UEFA statement said, "As the Municipality of Milano could not guarantee that the San Siro stadium and its surroundings would not be affected by refurbishment works in the period of the 2027 UEFA Champions League final, it was decided not to assign the final to Milan and to re-open the bidding process to appoint a suitable venue, with a decision expected in May/June 2025."

Munich's Allianz Arena will host the 2025 Champions League final on May 31, but with only Budapest and Milan submitting bids to host the 2026 and 2027 finals when the bidding process opened in July 2023, a source has told ESPN that UEFA will now seek expressions of interest from cities that originally chose not to bid for the 2027 Champions League final.