UEFA Picks Budapest to Host 2026 Champions League Final

Budapest will host the 2026 UEFA Champions League final with the 2027 final tentatively given to Milan with uncertainty over the stadium’s future.

UEFA’s executive committee announced that and several other major continental club championship future hosts on Wednesday. This year’s final on June 1 is at Wembley Stadium in London between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund; Bayern Munich’s home will host next year.

The Puskás Arena in Hungary and San Siro in Italy were the only two candidates for the two finals scheduled to be awarded. The San Siro, owned by the city of Milan, has been under long-term threat of demolition as shared tenants AC Milan and Inter Milan have looked for new homes they can own.

UEFA put off a decision until a September meeting subject to the Italian soccer federation “submitting information on refurbishment plans” for San Siro, which still could host the European Cup or Champions League final for the fifth time, one year after staging the opening ceremony of the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

UEFA’s executive committee also awarded the 2026 Women’s Champions League final to Oslo. Istanbul will host the 2026 Europa League final and the 2027 game is going to Frankfurt. The 2025 Europa final is in Bilbao, Spain, which also hosts the Women’s Champions League final next week. The third-tier Conference League final in 2026 will also go to Germany, in Leipzig, and in 2027 to Istanbul.

The 70,000-seat Puskás Arena opened five years ago and has been a go-to venue for UEFA, hosting a Europa League final last year and replacement games during the pandemic. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is a big fan of soccer and billionaire banker Sándor Csányi is a FIFA vice president representing UEFA.