The 2026 Finalissima between Spain and Argentina, initially slated to take place in Doha, Qatar, has been cancelled due to the war in the Middle East.
UEFA, European football’s governing body, said that Argentina rejected multiple alternative options for the game to take place elsewhere.
The Argentine Football Association (AFA) has been approached for comment by The Athletic .
The fixture between the European champions and the Copa America winners was scheduled to take place at Lusail Stadium on March 27.
The Qatar Football Association said on March 1 it had postponed all games and tournaments in the country until further notice following the U.S. and Israeli military attack on Iran and subsequent retaliation. The Qatar Stars League resumed on March 12.
The U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on major Iranian cities, including the capital Tehran, on February 28, after weeks of mounting diplomatic tension.
The strikes killed the nation’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and more than 1,300 civilians, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Iran retaliated with its own missile attacks on Israel and U.S. air bases in the Gulf region, including in Qatar, the UAE and Bahrain.
A wide corridor of airspace over the Middle East has been closed following the strikes, with Qatar, alongside Israel, Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, shutting down air traffic.
UEFA said on March 2 it was monitoring the developments of the situation, in cooperation with CONMEBOL, South American football’s governing body.
On Sunday, UEFA issued a statement announcing that the game had been cancelled “due to the current political situation in the region”.
“With strong determination to save the important fixture, and despite the understandable difficulties of relocating a match of such importance at extremely short notice, UEFA explored other feasible alternatives but each ultimately proved unacceptable to the Argentinian Football Association,” UEFA said.
The governing body said that the AFA rejected a proposal to play the match at Real Madrid’s Bernabeu on March 27, with a 50-50 split of fans in the stadium and also turned down a suggestion to play the final over two legs, with one game at the Bernabeu and one game in the Argentine city of Buenos Aires.
The proposed second leg would have taken place “during an international window before UEFA EURO and Copa America 2028”.
UEFA said it also suggested playing the match at a neutral venue in Europe on either March 27, March 30 or December 18, which was also rejected by the AFA.
According to UEFA, the AFA proposed playing the game after this summer’s World Cup, though Spain had no available dates.
“Finally, and contrary to the original agreed plan that the match would take place on 27 March, Argentina declared its availability to play exclusively on March 31, a date which proved to be unworkable” UEFA added.
The Spanish football federation (RFEF) issued a statement following the announcement, saying that “all the institutions involved realised that, unfortunately, it was impossible to play the scheduled matches there (in Doha).”
The RFEF added that it was prepared to host the game in Spain, at a neutral venue or “in a different format” and “offered all possible options”.
CONMEBOL, the governing body of football in South America, said in a statement after the announcement that holding the match in Madrid would “violate the principle of sporting fairness, as it is not a neutral venue.”
It also said that Argentina accepted a proposal “without objection” to play in Italy, but suggested the March 31 date, which UEFA said was not possible.
Wembley hosted the 2022 Finalissima between Italy and Argentina, a game which marked the relaunch of the competition, formerly known as the International Cup, which was held in 1985 and 1993.
March’s fixture between Spain and Argentina was set to pit Argentina great Lionel Messi against Spain and Barcelona teenage star Lamine Yamal for the first time.
The conflict in the Middle East has disrupted football across the region; the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League fixtures in the Middle East have all been postponed, while Graham Arnold, head coach of Iraq’s national team, asked FIFA to reschedule the nation’s World Cup play-off game due to travel issues stemming from the conflict.
The Saudi Pro League wrote to its clubs in the first week on the conflict, which began on February 28, informing them fixtures would go ahead as normal.
The RFEF also raised concerns to UEFA about the staging of Spain’s women’s World Cup qualifier against Ukraine in Turkey on March 7 due to the conflict, but the game ultimately went ahead as planned.
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