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Champions League To Play On Despite Volcanic Ash Cloud In Europe
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Champions  League To Play On Despite Volcanic Ash Cloud In EuropeIf you’ve paid any attention to the news lately you’ve no doubt seen reports about the huge clouds of volcanic ash that are causing serious headaches for air travel all across the European continent. The volcano in Iceland has produced a massive cloud of ash in the upper atmosphere that continues to spread and shows little sign of abating. The result has been the biggest disruption to international air travel since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. There is good news for soccer betting enthusiasts, however, as the Champions League games scheduled for this week will not need to be rescheduled and will go on as planned.


The only significant damage to come out of the ash cloud and resulting flight ban will be to the soccer players’ sense of luxury, as they’ll be forced to travel to their playing destinations by bus or train rather than jet. Barcelona will travel to Milan for their game against Internazionale by coach (in other words, a fancy bus) as will French side Lyon, who travel to Germany to face Bayern Munich.

UEFA confirmed that action would take place as scheduled with a statement on their website:

"Both of this week's UEFA Champions League semi-final first legs will go ahead as scheduled this week despite the current restriction on European air travel due to the volcanic cloud.”

"The refereeing team that has been announced for the match on Tuesday is so far maintained and a backup appointment has been prepared in case it should prove necessary to make a replacement.”

"Both visiting teams have taken all the necessary steps to rearrange their travel plans to ensure they reach their match venues on time. FC Barcelona are away to FC Internazionale Milano at 20.45CET on Tuesday and Olympique Lyonnais are at FC Bayern Munchen 24 hours later."

There are other forthcoming games in European tournament play that could be affected by the volcano, most specifically Thursday’s Europa League games:

"A decision will be taken in the coming days about Thursday's two UEFA Europa League matches: Club Atletico de Madrid v Liverpool FC and Hamburger SV v Fulham FC, as well as for the UEFA Futsal Cup finals in Lisbon from Friday. However, Sunday's UEFA Women's Champions League semi-final between Umea IK and Lyon in Sweden was postponed as the French side were unable to travel."

With the volcanic cloud showing few signs of abating, European airlines are beginning test flights to determine if a resumption of some flights are possible and under what circumstances. Early returns have been positive, with KLM-Air France reporting that flights between Amsterdam and Germany were conducted without problems.