2022 UEFA Champions League Final

The 2022 UEFA Champions League Final was the final match of the 2021-22 UEFA Champions League, the 67th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA. It was played at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, on 28 May 2022, between English club Liverpool and Spanish club Real Madrid. It was the third time the two sides have met in the European Cup final, after 1981 and 2018, the third final held here, after the 2000 and 2006 finals, and the first time the same two teams have met in three finals.
This was the first final to be played in front of a full attendance since the 2019 final, as the previous two finals were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The final was originally scheduled to be played at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany. After the postponement and relocation of the 2020 final, the final hosts were moved back a year, so the 2022 final was given to the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, UEFA called an extraordinary meeting of the executive committee, where it was expected to officially remove the match out of Russia. A day later, it announced the final would move to the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, located just north of Paris.
Real Madrid won the match 1-0 via a 59th-minute goal from Vinicius Junior for a record-extending 14th title, and their 5th in nine years. As the winners of the 2021-22 UEFA Champions League, Real Madrid earned the right to play against the winners of the 2021-22 UEFA Europa League, Eintracht Frankfurt, in the 2022 UEFA Super Cup. Additionally, the winners regularly qualify for the annual FIFA Club World Cup. However, the tournament's status remains uncertain, following FIFA's proposal for a format improvement.
Background
Liverpool played in their 10th European Cup/UEFA Champions League final. They had previously won six finals (in 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005 and 2019) and lost three (in 1985, 2007 and 2018). This was the fourth UEFA Champions League final for manager Jurgen Klopp, after his loss with Borussia Dortmund in 2013 and the Liverpool finals in 2018 and 2019. In addition to their six European Cup/UEFA Champions League titles, Liverpool also played in one European Cup Winners' Cup final, losing in 1966 against Borussia Dortmund, and in four UEFA Cup/Europa League finals, winning in 1973, 1976 and 2001 and losing in 2016. Their manager Jurgen Klopp was looking to become the fourth successive German to manage a Champions League-winning club.
Real Madrid played in a record 17th European Cup/UEFA Champions League final, and the first since their win in 2018 against Liverpool. They previously won 13 finals (in 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018) and lost three (1962, 1964 and 1981). Their manager Carlo Ancelotti reached a record fifth UEFA Champions League final as manager, winning in 2003 and 2007 and losing in 2005 while in charge of Milan, and winning the 2014 final with Real Madrid, and was looking to become the first manager in history to win four UEFA Champions League titles and eight European trophies. Real Madrid also played in two European Cup Winners' Cup finals (losing in 1971 and 1983) and two UEFA Cup finals (winning in 1985 and 1986).
This was a record-third time that the two teams meet in the final, after the 1981 final, which was held in the Parc des Princes in Paris and in which Liverpool prevailed 1-0, and the 2018 final held at the Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex in Kyiv, which was won 3-1 by Real Madrid. This was also the third final for Carlo Ancelotti as manager against Liverpool, after the 2005 and 2007 finals; he also lost the 1984 final as a player for Roma. This was the sixth time a Spanish side met a English team in the final of the competition, after the 1981, 2006 (won by Barcelona against Arsenal), the 2009 and 2011 finals (both won by Barcelona against Manchester United), and the 2018 final.
Besides the 1981 and 2018 finals, the two clubs met each other six times. Liverpool won both matches in the 2008-09 UEFA Champions League round of 16 (1-0 away and 4-0 at home). The two clubs were drawn in the same group in the 2014-15 UEFA Champions League group stage, with Real Madrid winning 3-0 away and 1-0 at home. In the 2020-21 quarter-finals, the Spanish side won 3-1 at home and held a 0-0 draw at Anfield to ensure progression to the semi-finals.
Previous finals
In the following table, finals until 1992 were in the European Cup era, since 1993 were in the UEFA Champions League era.
Venue
The final was originally awarded to the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the 2020 final to be relocated from the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul to the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, the Allianz Arena was reawarded with the 2023 final and the 2022 final was given to the original host of the 2021 final, the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, UEFA organised an emergency meeting of its executive committee on 25 February, at which it decided to move the final to the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. Other cities proposed as replacement hosts were Amsterdam, Barcelona, Munich and Rome. This was the first UEFA Champions League final to take place in France since 2006.
Host selection
An open bidding process was launched on 28 September 2018 by UEFA to select the venues of the finals of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and UEFA Women's Champions League in 2021. Associations had until 26 October 2018 to express interest, and bid information must be submitted by 15 February 2019. UEFA announced on 1 November 2018 that two associations had expressed interest in hosting the 2021 UEFA Champions League final, and on 22 February 2019 that both associations submitted their information by the deadline.
The Krestovsky Stadium was selected by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 24 September 2019, where the hosts for the 2021 and 2023 UEFA Champions League finals were also appointed.
On 17 June 2020, the UEFA Executive Committee announced that due to the postponement and relocation of the 2020 final caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, Saint Petersburg would instead host the 2022 final.
Road to the final
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).
Pre-match
Identity
The original logo of the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final at Saint Petersburg was unveiled at the group stage draw on 26 August 2021 in Istanbul.
Ambassadors
The ambassadors for the final were former Liverpool and Real Madrid forwards Ian Rush and Raul. Originally, former Russia and Zenit Saint Petersburg forward Andrey Arshavin was chosen to be the ambassador, though this was changed after the final's relocation to Saint-Denis. Rush was previously chosen as an ambassador for the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final at Cardiff, Wales, in which Real Madrid defeated Juventus.
Officials
On 11 May 2022, UEFA named Frenchman Clement Turpin as the referee for the final. He was joined by five of his fellow countrymen, including assistant referees Nicolas Danos and Cyril Gringore. Benoit Bastien served as the fourth official, while Jerome Brisard acted as the video assistant referee. Willy Delajod was appointed as one of the assistant VAR officials, along with Italian referees Massimiliano Irrati and Filippo Meli.
Opening ceremony
Cuban-born American singer Camila Cabello performed for the opening ceremony before the start of the match. Cabello performed her songs "Senorita", "Havana", "Bam Bam" and "Don't Go Yet".
Issues entering stadium and match delay
Crowd control descended into chaos at the entrances to the Stade de France prior to the beginning of the match. By 21:00 local time, the originally scheduled kick-off time, thousands of seats remained empty in the Liverpool end. For "security reasons", the kick-off was initially delayed by 15 minutes to 21:15. This was further delayed by 15 minutes to 21:30, before being pushed back another 6 minutes to 21:36, eventually started at 21:37.
Match
Details
The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held after the quarter-final and semi-final draws.