On Saturday morning in the Carmelite Monastery, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán received Aleksander Ceferin, President of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The meeting was also attended by Sándor Csányi, President of the Hungarian Football Federation and Vice President of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and of UEFA, Bertalan Havasi, the Prime Minister’s press chief informed the Hungarian news agency MTI.
Aleksander Ceferin has paid a visit to Budapest to attend the women’s Champions League final which will be held as an independent event for the first time, in a location separate from the men’s series. The match will take place in the Groupama Arena.
Pursuant to the decision adopted by UEFA in September 2017, Hungary will host the UEFA Women’s Champions League Final for the first time. Prague, Astana, Glasgow and Madrid also submitted bids for hosting the event, and therefore it is a major success of sports diplomacy that Budapest was chosen as host, the parties underlined at the meeting. The Hungarian capital has already hosted several other significant international events related to football: in 2012 1,200 delegates of 208 countries met here at the 62nd FIFA congress, this is where the U19 men’s European Championships were held in 2014, and in May 2016 UEFA brought its 40th congress to Budapest.
Mr Orbán informed his guest about the sports infrastructure developments currently under way in Hungary. He said shortly it will also be possible to organise men’s Champions League or Europa League finals in Hungary as the Puskás Ferenc Stadium – which will fully satisfy UEFA’s expectations – will be completed in November.
Several Hungarian stadiums built in recent years have received reputable architectural awards, the Prime Minister pointed out.