UEFA picks bigger stadiums for Conference League finals and confirms 2026 World Cup qualifying path

UEFA picked bigger stadiums Wednesday to host next two Europa Conference League finals after sub-20,000 capacity venues std previous two title games involving clubs from Italy, England and Nerlands.

2024 final in UEFA’s third-tier club competition was awarded to new AEK Ans stadium which should hold about 30,000 spectators.

In 2025, Slask Wrocław’s stadium will host final. venue drew crowds of about 41,000 for three games at 2012 European Championship that Poland co-hosted with Ukraine.

UEFA’s choices seemed to ackwledge a misjudgment in preseason choices for final hosts in a competition that started in 2021-22 season.

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Fewer than 20,000 fans could get into new national stadium in Tirana, Albania, for  inaugural final between Roma and Feyeord in 2022.

19,000-capacity Slavia Prague stadium was chosen for  2023 final between West Ham and Fiorentina. West Ham avers more than 62,000 for home games in Premier League and won playing in its first European final for 47 years.

Teams in next season’s competition with large contingents of traveling fans include Eintracht Frankfurt and Hajduk Split. current lineup also includes Juventus and Aston Villa though both risk being excluded because of pending UEFA decisions on, respectively, financial wrongdoing and being in shared ownership with ar club that qualified for Europe.

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UEFA said it will “provide expertise” in Ans at games over coming months because AEK stadium “is brand new and never operated by club in an international context.”

In a separate decision, competition will be rebranded next year to just UEFA Conference League. UEFA said that will help distinguish it from Europa League which also plays on Thursdays through season.

Sporting Lisbon’s stadium, which has a 50,000 capacity, was picked to host Women’s Champions League final in 2025.

UEFA did t schedule a news conference after its executive committee met Wednesday to discuss decisions in European soccer.

2026 WORLD CUP

committee also confirmed a plan anunced January for European qualification format for men’s national teams for 2026 World Cup.

Europe has 16 entries in first 48-team lineup — which will be hosted by United States, Canada and Mexico — and 12 will go directly to winners of qualifying groups w slimmed down to four or five teams instead of five or six.

Four World Cup entries will be earned through playoff brackets involving 16 nations – 12 runners-up of qualifying groups plus four teams advancing from Nations League standings.