Writing for The Athletic, David Ornstein reports that Football for Ukraine are in early talks with Arsenal and Chelsea over staging a match in June.
Former Chelsea player Andriy Shevchenko and Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko are heavily involved with Football for Ukraine, and talks have taken place over Stamford Bridge or the Emirates Stadium hosting the fixture.
Football for Ukraine is a UK charity working with people and companies to help the people of Ukraine affected by the war.
With Arsenal out of the FA Cup, the latest their season could finish is May 31st, should they make the Europa League final. Otherwise, it will end on May 28th.
But Chelsea’s season would finish much later if they made the Champions League final on June 10th.
Whilst that’s still a remote possibility at this stage, it does present a complication for organising a potential match between the two sides.
Following the Champions League final, there’s immediately an international break from June 12th to June 20th. After that, you’d imagine most players will begin their holidays.
In all likelihood, Chelsea won’t make the Champions League final, and there will be an opportunity to play the charity match before the international break.
But until Chelsea are eliminated from the competition, Arsenal and Football for Ukraine may have to wait to set a date.
