West Ham Win UEFA Appeal

 

West Ham will play their first match at the Olympic Stadium on August 4 after UEFA agreed to reverse the home and away legs of their Europa League tie. The Hammers were due to host either Shakhtyor Soligorsk of Belarus or NK Domzale of Slovenia on July 28 after being drawn at home for the first leg.
 
The timing of the first leg posed a major issue for West Ham, with their new home being used for the London Anniversary Games on July 22/23. It usually takes seven days to convert the stadium from athletics mode to football mode and would have therefore provided the club with an impossible task to ensure the stadium was ready for the match. 

West Ham held positive talks with both clubs following Friday's draw and gained their agreement to lodge an appeal to UEFA over a possible switch. On Monday, UEFA confirmed they had sanctioned West Ham's request and allowed them to delay the opening of their new 60,000-seater stadium by a week.