Barcelona’s renovated Camp Nou has been selected over London’s Wembley Stadium to host the 2029 UEFA Champions League final following an executive committee meeting in Thessaloniki, Greece. The decision brings European football’s premier fixture back to the iconic Catalan venue for the first time since 1999, when Manchester United scored two dramatic stoppage-time goals to shock Bayern Munich. The showcase event will mark a major milestone for Spanish football, taking place just one year before Spain co-hosts the 2030 FIFA World Cup alongside Portugal and Morocco.
Awarding the fixture to the 105,000-seat arena signals a clear thaw in relations between European football’s governing body and Barcelona following years of friction over the European Super League project. The selection comes while the stadium’s ambitious rebuild remains ongoing, with work on the upper tier and roof still under construction. Staging the 2029 showpiece also builds momentum ahead of the 2030 World Cup, where the right to host the tournament final remains a head-to-head battle between Real Madrid’s renovated Santiago Bernabéu and a new 115,000-seat stadium currently being constructed in Casablanca.
In addition to the 2029 announcement, UEFA confirmed the host venues for several upcoming continental finals. Bayern Munich’s stadium was selected to host the 2028 Champions League final after standing as the sole bidder for the event, returning to the Bavarian venue just three years after it stages the 2025 edition. Meanwhile, the 2027 final is set for Madrid’s Metropolitano Stadium on Saturday, June 5. That assignment followed prolonged deliberation while officials awaited clarification from local authorities regarding proposed refurbishment plans for Milan’s San Siro stadium.
European football’s governing body also locked in hosting rights across its other primary club competitions. Cardiff’s city center national stadium—which will also host the opening fixture of the men’s Euro 2028 tournament—was selected to stage the 2029 Women’s Champions League final. For the UEFA Europa League, hosting duties will head to Eastern Europe. Romania’s national stadium in Bucharest will host the 2028 final, followed by the 2029 final at Serbia’s new national stadium currently under construction on the outskirts of Belgrade.
Alongside the final venue designations, governing officials evaluated major structural changes to international qualification. UEFA proposed a revamped qualifying system for the 2030 World Cup and Euro 2032 aimed at eliminating non-competitive fixtures between top-tier nations and minnows. Under the plan, the top 36 ranked European teams would be split into three groups of 12, playing six matches against six different opponents in a single league table format. Teams ranked 37 through 55 would compete in a separate lower tier with an independent playoff pathway to secure tournament qualification.
