Pre-match information
Europe and the world will look to Puskas Arena in Budapest (Hungary) to watch the 2025-2026 Champions League final and witness the moment of coronation of one of the two teams – Paris St Germain or Arsenal.
This is the first Champions League final held in Hungary. Puskas Arena, named after Hungary's greatest player of all time, has only been inaugurated for more than 6 years but has successfully hosted the 2020 European Super Cup, 4 matches at EURO 2020 and the Europa League final in 2023.
This stadium is also applying to host the Conference League final in 2028 or 2029, aiming to complete a hat-trick in UEFA club-level tournaments in just 6 years.
Astonishingly, this is the first major European final between clubs from France and England.
And to remind that big football clubs do not necessarily have to play in the biggest cities, this is just the fourth final in history where clubs from 2 capitals of 2 countries respectively face each other. The last time this happened was in 1971, when Ajax faced Panathinaikos.
The final in Budapest will be the eighth time PSG and Arsenal have faced each other, and will eventually help 1 of the 2 teams have an advantage in overall achievements. To date, each team has 2 wins and 3 draws.
If considered in a shorter period of time, Mikel Arteta has a 3-3 record when facing PSG. But recently, the advantage has leaned towards the Paris capital team, who defeated Arsenal both at home and away in last year's semi-finals.
In addition, PSG has not lost any match in the last 5 knockout matches against English teams. That is another series of matches that Arteta wants to break.
For Arsenal, the battle in Budapest will be their 63rd official match this season - more than any other club. This is their second busiest season in history, however, fitness fatigue cannot be an excuse in a match like this.
The Gunners have the best defense this season with only 6 goals conceded after 14 matches. Moreover, they have gone through 6 matches in the knockout round without conceding any goals from open balls - the only team to do this.
But what better way to challenge the best defense than the strongest attack? Luis Enrique's team has scored 44 goals in this Champions League campaign. Just one more goal and they will equal the record set by Barcelona in the 1999-2000 season.
