- Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium will have a different name when it hosts Bayern Munich in the Champions League
- UEFA’s rules dictate that clubs like Arsenal must adopt a different name for their stadiums during European nights
- Both Arsenal and Bayern Munich are joint top and are yet to drop points in this season’s league phase
Arsenal will be back in Champions League action tonight when they host Bayern Munich in a high-stakes encounter.
Source: Getty Images
Both sides are yet to drop any points in the league phase so far and are joint-top alongside Inter Milan.
It will therefore be a classic example of an immovable force meeting an unstoppable object when the Bavarians come calling in North London.
However, despite the game being played in the familiar territory of the Emirates Stadium, UEFA uses a different name during Champions League nights.
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Why is Emirates Stadium called Arsenal Stadium?
UEFA has strict rules regarding stadium sponsors and requires host clubs to provide a ‘clean stadium’ as BBC Sport reports.
Therefore, any stadium hosting UEFA games cannot have the trademark, brand colours or logo of a sponsor anywhere in the commercial exclusive zones of a stadium hosting UEFA games.
UEFA doesn’t recognise the sponsors, and in Arsenal’s case, the Emirates Stadium becomes the Arsenal Stadium on Champions League nights.
Which other stadiums change their names?
The rule doesn’t apply to Arsenal only. The visitors’ home ground of Allianz Arena is officially recognised as the Munich Football Arena whenever Bayern Munich play in Europe.
That was the same name used during last season’s Champions League final, where Paris Saint-Germain beat Inter Milan to win their maiden title.
Other stadiums that change their names include Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, which is known as the City of Manchester Stadium.
Source: Getty Images
Arsenal vs Bayern Munich preview
Arsenal will come into this game on the back of a comfortable 4-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the North London derby.
Eberechi Eze grabbed a memorable hat-trick that sent the Gunners six points clear.
“This is the kind of game in the competition that we want to face, and we’ve been very consistent in both competitions; they have been as well, and tomorrow is a great test for us to see where we are,” said Mikel Arteta via the Arsenal website.
“Every opponent brings different challenges. They are in a great moment. The level of consistency they show in resource, performance, in every metric that they have, it’s very, very impressive”
Bayern, meanwhile, thumped Freiburg 6-2 to maintain their six-point gap over RB Leipzig in second.
Why Eberechi Eze’s goal vs Tottenham was allowed
The Premier League released a statement explaining why Eberechi Eze’s first goal was allowed despite offside calls.
There were multiple Arsenal players in an offside position when the former Crystal Palace star took the shot, but the goal was checked and cleared by the match officials.
Virgil van Dijk’s goal against Manchester City had previously been disallowed for almost similar circumstances after Andrew Robertson was adjudged to be blocking the goalkeeper’s view.
Proofreading by Asher Omondi, copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
