The Race of Champions was slated to be staged at the state-of-the-art home of German football club Eintracht Frankfurt on December 3-4. However, after the club was relegated to the 2.Bundesliga, Frankfurt’s fixture list, which was released on Tuesday, confirmed a clash of dates with the motorsport event.
With the final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup also due to take place at the stadium on July 17, Frankfurt must start the season with an away game with the result being unavoidable home fixtures on the scheduled Race weekend of December 3-4 as well as the event’s back-up date of December 10-11. Fans who have bought tickets for the event will be offered the choice of a refund or a special offer when the new venue is confirmed.
“This news came through very late and it was a total surprise for us,” said Race of Champions organiser Fredrik Johnsson. “So our first priority is to find the best possible alternative venue and to apologise to all the Race fans who have made plans to join us in Frankfurt. We hope to announce the replacement shortly and we can assure everyone that the Race of Champions will still be held in Germany in December. We’ve checked with the drivers and both Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher have confirmed that they will be with us regardless.”
The Race of Champions is an annual end-of-season competition that brings together the world’s greatest drivers from all motorsport disciplines, including Formula One, world rally, touring cars, Le Mans and NASCAR. In recent years the Race of Champions has visited the Stade de France in Paris, London’s Wembley Stadium and Beijing’s ‘Bird’s Nest’ Olympic Stadium. Last year’s event was staged at Düsseldorf’s ESPRIT arena.
