THE Finalissima scheduled for March 27 in Qatar has been called off due to the war in Iran, which has affected countries in the Middle East, UEFA has announced.
The Finalissima was going to be between Copa America holders Argentina and European champions Spain.
Spain, the EURO 2024 champions and 2024 Copa America winners Argentina were looking to repeat the pre-World Cup match in 2022 that pitted reigning European champions Italy against the 2021 Copa America winners Argentina.
The match also could have been the first time 18-year-old Spanish sensation Lamine Yamal and the 38-year-old Lionel Messi met on the pitch.
But because of the recent United StatesofAmerica and Israeli strikes on Iran and the subsequent unrest in the region, organisers deemed Qatar too unsafe to host the match.
UEFA, CONMEBOL and local organisers worked on finding another host and perhaps a different date to allow the match to happen, but ultimately the parties could not come to an agreement.
“After much discussion between UEFA and the organising authorities in Qatar, it is announced today that due to the current political situation in the region, the Finalissima cannot be played as hoped in Qatar,” UEFA announced in a statement last night.
“UEFA explored other feasible alternatives but each ultimately proved unacceptable to the Argentinian Football Association.”
UEFA also said Argentina proposed playing the match after the World Cup, but Spain had no availability to make that a possibility.
Other iterations of the Finalissima were played in 1985 and 1993.
Argentina are also the defending World Cup champions and are scheduled to begin their 2026 World Cup against Algeria in Kansas City on June 16. Austria and Jordan are also in Group J with the Argentinians.
Spain will face Cape Verde in Atlanta on June 15 with games against fellow Group G countries Saudi Arabia and Uruguay scheduled.
The United States is co-hosting the World Cup with Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19.
