UEFA Super Cup bound for Helsinki and Kazan
Monday, March 2, 2020
Article summary
The 2022 and 2023 UEFA Super Cup games will be staged in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium and Kazan Arena respectively.
Article top media content
Article body
The 2022 UEFA Super Cup will be contested at Finland's Helsinki Olympic Stadium with the UEFA Executive Committee selecting Russia's Kazan Arena as the venue for the 2023 decider. Neither Helsinki nor Kazan have staged a major UEFA men’s final before.
As the name suggests, Helsinki Olympic Stadium was the main venue when Finland staged the 1952 Olympics. The arena originally opened in 1938 with a view to staging the 1940 Olympics, but that event was cancelled due to the Second World War. The venue closed for renovation in 2016 and is expected to be reopened in its new form later in 2020.
Kazan Arena is home to Rubin Kazan, who won the 2008 and 2009 Russian Premier League titles. The venue first opened in 2013, in time to stage the Summer Universiade, and was then chosen as one of the venues for the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals, staging six games including France’s 4-3 win against Argentina in the round of 16, and Belgium's 2-1 quarter-final defeat of Brazil.
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual match contested by the reigning champions of the two main European club competitions, devised by Dutch reporter Anton Witkamp to decide definitively the top club side in Europe. The European Cup/UEFA Champions League holders have always been involved, facing the holders of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1972–1999) or UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League (2000–).