Champions' League Final: Why Are Man Utd and Chelsea Playing in Russia?

Let me recount the finalists and venues of the last three European Cups.

Liverpool vs. Milan (Athens), Arsenal vs. Barcelona (Paris) and Liverpool vs. Milan (Turkey).

And now we see Manchester United vs Chelsea, to be played in Moscow. Now, far be it from me to attempt to detract from the buzz surrounding the showcase European match this year, but it seems that there is no room for logic in UEFA's selection policies.

Come the end of proceedings tomorrow, three of the last four finals will have been contested in Eastern Europe. Since the rebranding of Europe's premier club competition in 1992, not one finalist has hailed from countries east of Italy.

Every single team has played their domestic football in either Spain, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal or England. This surely begs the question: why are UEFA continually playing the finals in countries that will be difficult for the average supporter to get to?

As a Liverpool fan, the instance that jumps to my mind is the 2005 final. Played in Turkey, the Ataturk Stadium was hardly the centre of a thriving infrastructure. Taking around four hours to get to the ground from Istanbul city centre, the stadium was not only a nightmare to get to, but in a country who have not produced a single European Cup finalist in their history.

Difficulty of transport has been echoed in 2008. Faced with a costly trip to Russia including vast air fares, long flights and astronomic internal travel expenses, many fans have simply been priced out of a ticket to one of the biggest matches in their team's history.

Russia's government have allowed logic to prevail in allowing fans with valid tickets into the country without a visa, but the sheer scale of the ordeal has put many supporters off travelling altogether.

Supporters have also been denied in terms of ticket allocation itself. Giving each club around 22,000 tickets each for a 75,000 capacity stadium has allowed UEFA to designate 31,000 seats for UEFA's "footballing family."

This worrying trend has been perpetuated in many domestic finals in England, with the FA Cup final allowing 20,000 corporate tickets into the hands of non-fans.

For the average supporter, the entire scenario reeks of the infamous phrase becoming more prominent in the modern game—"money talks."

I am not saying that we should deny these nations the chance to host European Cup finals in the future, but surely logic would insist that the majority must be hosted in Western Europe, where most finalists play and most fans will be able to get to.

It appears that Platini and the rest of UEFA have allayed these concerns somewhat with the next two finals in Rome and Madrid, but this will come too late for many an English football fan who might not see their side battle their way to a Champions League final for many years to come.

Fairness is paramount in the allocation of Champions' League finals. That is precisely why there should be a proportional representation of matches in Western Europe to give the people whose support perpetuates the game—the fans—the chance to participate in their club's biggest games.

UEFA might have lost sight of this fact in recent years and I can only hope, for the fans sake, that normal service will be resumed.