Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
European champions, Chelsea, will face Villarreal in the Union of the European Football Association (UEFA) Super Cup on August 11 with the game to be played at Windsor Park in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The winners of the Champions League and the Europa League will meet that day, with further details set to be announced in due course.
The Blues won the Champions League last week by defeating Manchester City 1-0 in Porto from a Kai Havertz first-half goal, while Villarreal edged out Manchester United in the Europa League on penalties after a 1-1 match after 120 minutes.
Chelsea have lifted the Super Cup once, defeating Real Madrid 1-0 in 1998, thanks to Gus Poyet’s winning goal.
The club last featured in the competition in 2019 after winning the Europa League for the second time, where it lost to Liverpool on penalties in Istanbul while this will be Villarreal first, following their first-ever triumph in Europe.
Istanbul had originally been set to hold the Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea, but it was moved to Portugal because of the coronavirus pandemic.
There had been claims made by the Turkish government that the country would be compensated by being awarded hosting duties for the upcoming Super Cup match and the 2023 Champions League final
UEFA strongly considered moving the Super Cup contest to Istanbul, but a final decision was taken once the lineup for the final had been confirmed.
Analysts noted that had Manchester United beaten Villarreal in the Europa League final last month, creating a higher profile Super Cup fixture, the match would have likely been moved.
The match is scheduled for the Wednesday before the opening weekend of the Premier League season.
The Irish Football Association welcomed the decision and said, “The 2021 UEFA Super Cup final will be played at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park in Belfast on 11 August.
“After recent speculation that the game would be switched to Istanbul, UEFA has today confirmed that the showpiece fixture between Champions League winners, Chelsea, and Europa League winners, Villarreal, will remain in Northern Ireland.
“Irish FA CEO, Patrick Nelson, said: “We have kept in close contact with our partners at UEFA on the matter and following these discussions we are delighted that they have confirmed that the game will stay in Belfast.”
“Details on attendance and ticketing arrangements are still to be finalised and will be publicised in due course.”
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.
