Russian official comments on UEFA Super Cup plans
UEFA has still not contacted officials in the Russian city of Kazan about the status of the 2023 Super Cup which is due to be hosted there, according to the sports minister of Tatarstan, Vladimir Leonov.
“For the moment, the Super Cup is on our schedule, there have been no official statements about its cancelation or postponement,” Leonov told RIA Novosti on Thursday.
“We’re ready for the match, it will be great if it takes place in Kazan next year. There has been no communication with UEFA for a long time.
“I think that after the New Year holidays, in any case, we need to make some kind of contact, because six months remain [until the final is due to be held],” Leonov added.
“We understand what needs to be done, but there still has to be direct agreements. I think at the beginning of the year, some decisions will be announced on this matter.”
The UEFA Super Cup is traditionally held in August around the start of the new season, and features the winners of the federation’s two premier competitions – the Champions League and Europa League.
Kazan was awarded hosting rights to the UEFA showpiece in March 2020, with the game set to take place at the 45,000-seater AK Bars Arena – one of the venues at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
However, Kazan’s potential hosting of the event – which would be a first for Russia – is in major doubt after UEFA and FIFA banned all Russian teams from their competitions in February following the onset of the conflict in Ukraine.
Russia has also been indefinitely banned from hosting major events, with St. Petersburg stripped of the 2022 Champions League final it was due to welcome in May.
The game was moved to Paris, where it was marred by mistreatment of fans by local police.
US sports outlet ESPN reported as far back as May that Kazan would inevitably be stripped of the Super Cup.
Further casting the match into doubt is the potential decision by the Russian Football Union (RFU) to leave UEFA and join its Asian counterpart, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The RFU executive committee is expected to vote this week on the matter, after postponing an initial decision planned for Tuesday.
The reigning UEFA Super Cup holders are Spanish giants Real Madrid, who defeated Germany’s Eintracht Frankfurt in the last edition of the match at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki in August.
