{"id":18493,"date":"2026-07-18T11:38:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=18493"},"modified":"2026-07-18T11:38:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:38:41","slug":"chelsea-could-welcome-champions-league-back-after-shock-stadium-twist-read-chelsea-f-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=18493","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea could welcome Champions League back after shock stadium twist &#8211; Read Chelsea F.C."},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Chelsea could host Champions League football at Stamford Bridge next season despite Xabi Alonso\u2019s side missing out on European qualification.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shakhtar Donetsk are considering using the west London stadium as their temporary European home while restrictions continue to prevent them from hosting matches in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to\u00a0The Chelsea Chronicle, Ukrainian journalist Ihor Burbas claims Shakhtar have narrowed their search to Stamford Bridge and Fulham\u2019s Craven Cottage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brentford\u2019s Gtech Community Stadium had also been discussed, but its capacity of around 17,000 is reportedly considered too small.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No final decision has been made, and Chelsea have not officially confirmed negotiations with Shakhtar.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8\ud83d\udea8 Shakhtar WILL not play their Champions League games at GTech Community stadium in Brentford, due to the ground&#8217;s small capacity.<\/p>\n<p>The club have decided to play either at Stamford Bridge (Chelsea) or Craven Cottage (Fulham), reports Ukrainian insider Ihor Burbas. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/SsbNmeRqgw\">pic.twitter.com\/SsbNmeRqgw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Miners Weekly (@Miners_Weekly) July 17, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Stamford Bridge move could hand Chelsea unexpected windfall<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hosting Shakhtar could provide Chelsea with additional income through stadium rental, hospitality and other matchday revenue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stamford Bridge can accommodate around 40,000 supporters, giving Shakhtar a larger potential audience than Craven Cottage. Its location and Champions League infrastructure could also strengthen Chelsea\u2019s position.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the club would need to manage a busier stadium schedule.\u00a0Chelsea Women will play every Women\u2019s Super League home match at Stamford Bridge\u00a0during the 2026\/27 campaign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chelsea would also need to consider pitch maintenance, policing and possible clashes with domestic fixtures before approving any agreement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shakhtar have played European home matches in Poland, Germany and Slovenia since leaving Ukraine. A London switch would give the Ukrainian club access to a large local audience and established transport links.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Chelsea supporters, seeing another club host Champions League nights at Stamford Bridge would feel unusual. From a commercial perspective, the arrangement could turn unused midweek dates into a useful revenue stream.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chelsea could host Champions League football at Stamford Bridge next season despite Xabi Alonso\u2019s side&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}