Spartak Moscow vs Leicester City: Why is the Europa League clash kicking off at 3:30 on Wednesday?

Jamie Vardy
(Image credit: PA)

Spartak Moscow vs Leicester City has been moved from the traditional Europa League slot of Thursday evening for a 3:30 start on Wednesday 20 October. 

Leicester travel to the Russian capital having only won only three of their 14 away fixtures in UEFA competition (D3 L8) - though the most impressive came five years, 3-0 at Club Brugge, in their debut season in the Champions League.

Leicester will be playing on a Champions League day today though, since another Moscow club are in action at home tomorrow.

Lokomotiv Moscow are hosting Galatasaray elsewhere in the Europa League. With a potential conflict of having two games in the same city, UEFA moved this one to a slot in which fans can watch Leicester without having to sacrifice seeing a Champions League fixture tonight. 

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It's actually written into UEFA law that no two teams from the same city can play on the same night in the same competition.

"If more than one club from the same city, or within a radius of 50km (31 miles) of each other, is taking part in any of the UEFA club competitions and/or plays in the same stadium, and if the association and the clubs concerned explicitly declare when entering the clubs that their matches cannot be played on the same day, priority is given to UEFA Champions League matches and UEFA Europa League matches are reversed," say UEFA in rule number 22.04.

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