UEFA chose Budapest on Wednesday to host the men's Champions League final in 2026 and delayed handing over the 2027 match to Milan amid uncertainty over the San Siro's future.
The Puskás Arena and San Siro were the only two candidates for the two finals scheduled for award. The next final, on June 1, will be at Wembley Stadium in London and the home of Bayern Munich will host next year's main event.
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The iconic San Siro, formally known as Stadio Giuseppe Meazza and owned by the city of Milan, has long been under threat of demolition. Their shared tenants, AC Milan and Inter Milan, have been looking for new homes they can own.
UEFA postponed the decision until a meeting of its executive committee in September, subject to the Italian football federation “presenting information on the redevelopment plans” for the San Siro.
Earlier on Wednesday, uncertainty increased in Milan when ownership of Inter passed from Chinese corporation Suning to American investors Oaktree due to non-payment of its debts.
The 75,000-capacity San Siro could still host the European Cup or Champions League final for the fifth time, a year after hosting the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics.
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 matches during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is a big football fan and billionaire banker Sándor Csányi is vice president of FIFA representing UEFA.
UEFA's executive committee also sent the women's Champions League final in 2026 to Oslo, Norway.
Istanbul will host the 2026 Europa League final at the central Besiktas stadium and the 2027 match will be played at the home of Eintracht Frankfurt. The 2025 European final will be held at Athletic Bilbao's stadium, which will also host the Women's Champions League final next week.
The final of the third division Conference League in 2026 will also go to Germany, in Leipzig, and in 2027 to Istanbul, also at the Besiktas stadium.
The Besiktas stadium will host European finals in consecutive years, while the Romanian national stadium in Bucharest, which last hosted a Europa League final in 2012, lost in the vote to win back that title match.
The Israeli football federation had originally participated in the Conference League bidding competition last year proposing the Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem.
