Unless you’ve been living in a cave this week, you will have heard that one of the world’s largest sporting events is coming to Wales this weekend…… Wales’ capital city Cardiff is proud to host the Champions League Final 2017.

And it’s not just the football game either, there’s a four day festival happening across the city to celebrate this most extraordinary sporting event.

The UEFA Champions League is one of the most prestigious football competitions in the world. It takes places annually across Europe – with the best teams from Europe competing for the coveted trophy. It was established in 1955, when sixteen teams took part, whereas this year, a whopping 78 teams have taken part including the qualifying rounds.

And prestige isn’t all that the teams are playing for either… the winners of tomorrow’s game can expect prize money of over 15 million euros, and even the losing team can expect 11 million! In total, a club can earn over 57 million euros for successfully completing each round; so there’s a lot to play for. This year’s finalists are Spanish team Real Madrid and Italian team Juventus. Real Madrid are the competition’s most successful club – having won the trophy 11 times. Will they be able to make it a 12th tomorrow?

The 2017 Cardiff Champions League Final will take place at the city’s National Stadium of Wales on the 3rd June at 19:45. The city is expecting some 170,000 visitors – a huge amount for a relatively small city, that just a few years ago may not have been able to take on the task of hosting such an event.

The coveted trophy has already arrived in the city – delivered by football veteran and welsh legend Ian Rush on a boat that sped into Cardiff Bay with the trophy on board.

And following the success of the Welsh team in last year’s Euro competition, this weekend’s events will be another added boost to Welsh football. As well as the match itself there will be a whole host of events going on around the city – from appearances by DJs, gigs by bands and street parties. The main festival zone is at Cardiff Bay – in the Roald Dahl Plass and the Welsh Millennium Centre. The area will be transformed into a family festival and will include a stage for local artists, DJs and bands each day, a floating five-a-side pitch which will host the UEFA Ultimate Champions Match on 2 June, the UEFA Champions Gallery (a museum celebrating the Champions League’s history) and an interactive Virtual Champions Arena, offering a virtual reality experience.

So, it’s not one to miss! If you’re heading to Cardiff this weekend then you can find out more information about everything that’s going on here.

Well done Cardiff and well done Wales, for holding such a fantastic sporting event!