HELSINKI: The Champions League and Europa League finals will both be played in the same week from 2019 under a decision taken by the executive committee of UEFA ahead of the European federation’s annual congress in Helsinki writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

The concept of the ‘final week’ was introduced under former president Michel Platini when the Champions League final was moved from its traditional Wednesday slot to Saturday.

The Women’s Champions League had also been staged earlier in the same week but, under new president Aleksander Ceferin, this is now being moved to a different week entirely to take it out from beneath the shadow of the most high-profile date in the UEFA club calendar.

According to UEFA the Europa League final has been moved to try, as much as possible, to stage the two major club finals after the end of domestic most seasons.

As a consequence, the 2018-19 UEFA Europa League final will be played on Wednesday May 29. However there will continue to be different venues for the two finals.

Other decisions:

UEFA’s European Under-21 Championship final tournament in Italy in 2019 will be played between June 16 and 30;

The UEFA Futsal Euro is being streamlined and reorganised and the UEFA Futsal Cup will be renamed the UEFA Futsal Champions League as from 2018-19 season.

The next meeting of the UEFA exco will take place in Cardiff on June 1 on the eve of the Champions League Final.

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