Champions League: Istanbul to stage 2020 final, says UEFA

Istanbul's Ataturk Olympic Stadium will host the 2020 Champions League final, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin announced after an executive committee meeting on Thursday.

The 76,000-capacity stadium hosted the thrilling 2005 showpiece where Liverpool came back from 3-0 down at halftime to draw 3-3 with AC Milan and win a penalty shoot-out. The venue beat competition from Lisbon's Estadio da Luz, where Real Madrid defeated Atletico Madrid 4-1 after extra-time in the 2014 final. 

UEFA have been under pressure to ensure future final host cities have the hotel and airport infrastructure to cope with the influx of fans, delegates and media for the biggest game in club football.

Liverpool have complained to UEFA after their fans have faced spiralling accommodation and travel costs for fans trying to attend Saturday's final against holders Real Madrid in Kiev, the city which played host to the Euro 2012 final.

"They just don't have the airport infrastructure and the hotel capacity to cope with an event of this size and there isn't another major city within real hitting distance of it," Liverpool chief executive Peter Moore told the Liverpool Echo newspaper.

"It's not only affected Liverpool fans but Real Madrid fans too. There will be lessons learned from this. Rest assured, I've raised this at the highest levels of UEFA." Ceferin had already reintroduced a tender process for bidding for finals since taking over as UEFA president from Michel Platini.

The decision to award the final to Kiev was made prior to Ceferin's election as president in 2016.

The 2020 Women's Champions League final will be held at the Austria Arena in Vienna, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin announced after an executive committee meeting on Thursday.

This year's final between Olympique Lyonnais and VfL Wolfsburg takes place later on Thursday in Kiev, two days before the men's edition in the same city. However, as of next year the two competition's finals will take place in separate countries.

The 2019 edition will be held at the Groupama Arena in Budapest while the men's Champions League final will be at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium in Madrid.