The soon-to-be-built Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid and the Olympic Stadium in the Azerbaijani capital Baku are vying to host the UEFA Champions League final in 2019.
Designed by Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos, the latter is due to be complete ahead of the 2017/18 season.
It will have 66,000 seats, a fanzone, a museum and videomapping facade, and will be “one of the top five experiences” in European football, according to Atletico Madrid’s managing director Javier Martinez.
The 70,000-capacity Olympic Stadium in Baku was opened in 2015, just before it hosted the European Games.
The venue will also stage one group match during the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament, which will be held at various locations.
Azerbaijan’s largest stadium has also submitted a bid to host that season’s UEFA Europa League final, although it can stage both in the same year.
Its rivals are: Dinamo Arena (Tbilisi, Georgia); Frankfurt Stadion (Germany); Arena Stuttgart (Germany); Hampden Park (Glasgow, Scotland); Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan (Sevilla, Spain); and Besiktas Arena (Istanbul, Turkey).
Scotland’s national stadium Hampden Park is competing with a further five venues to host the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Eden Arena (Prague, Czech Republic); Ferencvaros (Budapest, Hungary); Astana Arena (Kazakhstan); Darius & Girenas Stadium (Kaunas, Lithuania); and Coliseum Alfonso Perez (Madrid, Spain) are also in contention.
