Berlin will stage the Champions League final for the first time in 2015 and Warsaw will be the venue for the Europa League final, UEFA said on Thursday. "Two beautiful venues for our finals for 2015," UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino told a news conference.
The timing could not have been better as far as Germany is concerned with an all-German Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund set for Wembley on Saturday. The 2015 match, at Berlin's Olympic Stadium, will be the first European final in the German capital which hosted the Olympic Games in 1936 and the 2006 World Cup final.
"I had expressed our wish during the 2012 final in Munich to Michel Platini that we would like to pretty soon host again such a global event," German Football Federation (DFB) President Wolfgang Niersbach said in a statement. Two German cities have previously been used as the venues for the Champions League final with Munich hosting it three times in 1993, 1997 and 2012 and Gelsenkirchen staging the 2004 final.