Champions Cup final to be moved away from Marseille’s Stade Vélodrome

EPRC said risk of Covid transmission from cross-border travel required greater flexibility for the choice of venues for the May 21 and 22 finals

EPRC said risk of Covid transmission from cross-border travel required greater flexibility for the choice of venues for the May 21 and 22 finals

Heineken Champions Cup and Challenge Cup organisers have decided that this season’s European finals will not now be played in Marseille.

It is the second year in a row that the Mediterranean port city has seen its plans to stage European club rugby’s biggest weekend disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, though EPCR said Marseille’s Stade Vélodrome would now stage the 2022 finals with Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London scheduled to host the 2023 deciders having originally been slated for this year’s games before the initial wave of the novel coronavirus.