UEFA will move this year's Champions League final from St Petersburg in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a source with knowledge of the situation says.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has called an extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee and it is expected to agree on moving the final.
The showcase match in European club football was to be held at Zenit St Petersburg's stadium on May 28 - an event that would have normally drawn thousands of fans from across the continent.
The stadium is known as the Gazprom Stadium after a sponsorship deal with Russia's state energy company, which also sponsors UEFA's Champions League and UEFA's Euro 2024 national team competition.
"We are dealing with this situation with the utmost seriousness and urgency," UEFA said in a statement. "Decisions will be taken by the UEFA Executive Committee and announced tomorrow."
"UEFA shares the international community's significant concern for the security situation developing in Europe and strongly condemns the ongoing Russian military invasion in Ukraine.
"We remain resolute in our solidarity with the football community in Ukraine and stand ready to extend our hand to the Ukrainian people."
In a separate move, German club Schalke 04 said it was removing Gazprom's logo from its shirts due to events in Ukraine.
Four-time Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel said he will not take part in the Russian Grand Prix even if it goes ahead as planned.
Russia has held grand prix races since 2014, with this year's event scheduled for September 25.
Formula One officials have said they are "closely watching" developments, but they have not commented on whether the Russian Grand Prix would go ahead on schedule in September.
"My own opinion is I should not go," Vettel, who races for Aston Martin, told reporters during pre-season testing in Barcelona. "I think it's wrong to race in the country."
"I'm sorry for the innocent people that are losing their lives, that are getting killed for stupid reasons and a very, very strange and mad leadership," the 34-year-old said.
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen agreed.
"When a country is at war, it's not correct to race there, that's for sure," said the Red Bull driver.
Western sanctions against Russia are likely to include measures against more Russian banks including VTB, the title sponsor of the Russian Grand Prix.
A 2022 World Cup playoff match in Russia is "almost unthinkable" at the moment, the chairman of the Swedish Football Association (SvFF) says.
Sweden are due to face the Czech Republic in a World Cup playoff Group B match on March 24, with the victor meeting the winner of the other group game between Poland and Russia.
Wins for Sweden and Russia would mean the two sides meeting in Russia on March 29, with a place at the Qatar World Cup at stake.
"It's a possible scenario ... spontaneously around the feelings we have as we wake up this morning are that it is almost unthinkable that we in a few weeks would play a football match in Russia," Karl-Erik Nilsson told Reuters.
"As it looks here and now, today, there is absolutely no desire to play a football match in Russia," he added.
Nilsson said that he had not been in touch with his contacts in Ukraine following the overnight attacks.
"Out thoughts go to our friends in Ukraine over the situation they woke up to today, it's awful. Football should be seen as something of less importance in the middle of this inferno," he said.
The 64-year-old former referee stopped short of demanding that the Russians be kicked out of the World Cup entirely.
"I believe that (in these situations) much is called for very quickly - we will need to live and socialise even in the future, and I think we shouldn't be too quick with solutions," he explained.
"Instead, we should take our time and see what actions are needed. For the moment we are looking forward to arms being laid down and that peace and freedom come into existence."
The Swedish football boss said that the desires of the Ukrainians themselves should guide football's response.
"It's important that the requests come from Ukraine," Nilsson said.
"At the moment they have a lot more to think about than football, but a future will arrive one day and we mush show solidarity with our football friends around Europe," he said.
Reuters
