Champions League final: All you need to know

There are just two teams left standing in the 2025/26 Uefa Champions League and Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal are now heading to Budapest's Puskás Aréna for the showpiece of European club football.

Holders Paris are bidding to become only the second club in the Champions League era to successfully defend their title after Real Madrid, who won three in a row between 2016 and 2018. The Gunners, runners-up in 2006, are seeking to become the 25th club to lift the trophy and the second new winners in succession after Paris' 2025 triumph.

Champions League final

Paris Saint-Germain v Arsenal

Saturday 30 May, 6pm CET/SAST

Arsenal (ENG)

League phase: W8 D0 L0 F23 A4 (1st place)

Round of 16: 3-1 agg v Leverkusen

Quarter-finals: 1-0 agg v Sporting CP

Semi-finals: 2-1 agg v Atleti

Top Fantasy Football points scorer: Gabriel (75)

Uefa coefficient ranking: 7

Last season: Semi-final (L 1-3 agg v Paris)

Best European Cup performance: Runners-up (2005/06)

Why they can win

Over the past three seasons, both domestically and in the Champions League, Arsenal have been consistently improving and now they look to be on the verge of glory, ready to cash in all the experience they have accumulated. Two years ago, the Gunners made it to the quarter-finals; last year they bowed out in the semis. Now they're in the 2026 final. Mikel Arteta's side have the resilience and firepower to get over the line.

How they play

Impenetrable at the back, lethal at set-pieces and goals from every angle. Arteta's team can win matches in any number of ways, built on foundations that average a goal conceded every other game. But the fact that 12 outfield players have contributed to their goal tally shows that Arsenal are far from just a solid defensive outfit. Up front, Viktor Gyökeres looks to have emerged as the missing piece of the puzzle, unleashing pace and trickery around him.

Uefa's Arsenal reporter, Joseph Terry: The league phase can be summed up in one word: perfect. No other team had a 100% winning record, plus Arsenal were top scorers and kept five clean sheets. The knockout phase has brought different kinds of challenges and the north London side have faced up to all of them in seeing off Leverkusen, Sporting CP and Atleti. Arteta's men have shown demonstrable progress with every campaign in this competition, and there's a growing sense that this is their time.

Coach: Mikel Arteta

Assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City from 2016 to 2019, Arteta guided Arsenal to a 14th FA Cup in his first season in charge. After eighth and fifth-placed Premier League finishes in 2021 and 2022 respectively, Arteta's team have been runners-up in each of the last three campaigns.

Key player: Bukayo Saka

Saka came through the ranks before his breakout season with the Gunners in 2019/20. Blessed with pace and fine finishing ability, the winger, still only 24, recently passed 150 goal involvements for the club (80 goals, 70 assists). An FA Cup winner in 2020, he is the first Englishman to score in the Champions League semi-finals two seasons running.

Did you know?

Arsenal remain unbeaten in the competition this season with 11 wins and three draws from 14 matches. Sixteen previous European Cup winners have gone through an entire campaign unbeaten.

Paris (FRA)

League phase: W4 D2 L2 F21 A11 (11th place)

Knockout phase play-off: 5-4 agg v Monaco

Round of 16: 8-2 agg v Chelsea

Quarter-finals: 4-0 agg v Liverpool

Semi-finals: 6-5 agg v Bayern

Top Fantasy Football points scorer: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (117)

Uefa coefficient ranking: 3

Last season: Winners (W 5-0 v Inter)

Best European Cup performance: Winners (2024/25)

Why they can win the competition

Question marks over Paris' ability to win this competition were quashed emphatically last May and the confidence gained from that crowning moment has carried them to another final. While the side again had a chequered league phase, their 8-2 aggregate victory over Chelsea in the last 16 and 4-0 aggregate defeat of Liverpool in the quarter-finals served as timely reminders of their individual brilliance, perpetual motion and bustling industry. The incredible last-four tie against Bayern München was another thing altogether!

How they play

Luis Enrique has moulded Paris into one of the great teams of the modern era. Marquinhos and Willian Pacho provide the defensive foundations, affording their nominal fullbacks, Nuno Mendes and Achraf Hakimi, the licence to operate as auxiliary wingers and midfielders. Vitinha and João Neves are the metronomes in midfield, while Bradley Barcola, Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia are piercing presences across the front line.

Uefa's Paris reporter, Alex Clementson: It feels a long time since Paris finished the league phase 11th and again had to come through the knockout phase play-offs, where they were pushed all the way by Monaco. The business end of the competition has brought them back to their brilliant best. Luis Enrique's men have been irrepressible at times, serving up performances reminiscent of their title-winning campaign. Maybe lightning really does strike twice.

Coach: Luis Enrique

The ex-Barcelona and Real Madrid player won nine trophies during a hugely successful three-year spell in charge of the Blaugrana, then coached Spain to the EURO 2020 semi-finals and the 2021 Nations League final. He scooped a domestic double in his first season in Paris before steering them to their first Champions League title in a trophy-packed 2024/25 that also included Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France.

Key player: Ousmane Dembélé

Injury has prevented the former Dortmund and Barcelona forward from reaching the stellar heights of last season, but again he is delivering goal contributions at a rate of almost one per game. The Ballon d'Or winner is key for Paris, an unselfish focal point in attack who always brings the best out of his teammates and has a habit of scoring when it matters, as Bayern discovered.

Did you know?

Paris are bidding to become only the second club in the Champions League era to successfully defend their title after Real Madrid, who won three in a row between 2016 and 2018.

Will there be extra-time and penalties in the Champions League final?

If scores are level at the end of normal time, two 15-minute periods of extra-time are played. If one of the teams scores more goals than the other during extra time, that team are declared the winners. If scores remain level after extra-time, the winners are determined by a penalty shoot-out.

Who will be performing before the Champions League final?

The Killers will headline the 2026 Uefa Champions League Final Kick Off Show presented by Pepsi®. To launch this year's show, The Killers appear alongside Sir David Beckham in a new short film titled The Race Begins. The cinematic storyline follows lead singer Brandon Flowers and Beckham in a playful, high-stakes race to reach the most highly-anticipated match of the season and can be viewed here.

History of the Puskás Aréna

• The Puskás Aréna officially opened as the new national stadium of Hungary on 15 November 2019. It was built on the site of the old Ferenc Puskás Stadion, which was demolished in 2017, and retains the brick walls of its predecessor in the main entrance. “The construction of the new Puskás Aréna stadium puts together the architectural values of the old stadium along with the implementation of the most modern techniques,” said Codina Architectural, the firm who designed and built its striking metal exterior.

• Uefa president Aleksander Čeferin described the 67 000-seater as the "the jewel in Hungarian football's crown" and praised the commitment of the Hungarian Football Federation (MLSZ) to building new stadia.

• Like its predecessor, the Puskás Aréna bears the name of legendary Hungarian forward Ferenc Puskás, a three-time European Cup winner with Real Madrid.

• Sevilla claimed a record seventh Uefa Europa League title at the Puskás Aréna as they defeated Roma on penalties in May 2023, but the 2026 Champions League final will be the first time that Hungary has hosted the final of Europe's premier club competition.

• The stadium also hosted four games at Uefa EURO 2020, including Hungary's 1-1 draw with World Cup holders France in Group F, and the 2020 UEFA Super Cup meeting between Bayern München and Sevilla which the German side won 2-1.

• Located just east of central Budapest, the stadium is only a kilometre from Budapest Keleti central railway station and two kilometres from the historic centre of the Hungarian capital.

• The arena opened with a friendly match between Hungary and Uruguay, which the visitors won 2-1. Former captain and current assistant coach Ádám Szalai became the first Hungarian player to score at the new stadium, clawing one back after Edinson Cavani and Brian Rodríguez gave Uruguay a two-goal lead.

• Construction, which took place between 2017 and 2019, involved the production and installation of approximately 20 000 square meters of stainless steel wire mesh. Architect and project designer György Skardelli wanted to incorporate modern features and techniques while also preserving the distinctive character of the original building.

What do the Champions League winners get?

The Uefa Champions League trophy stands 73.5cm tall and weighs 7.5kg. "Everybody in football is keen to get their hands on it," said creator Jürg Stadelmann.

The winners will also earn the right to play against the winners of the 2025/26 Uefa Europa League (Aston Villa) in the 2026 Uefa Super Cup.

They will also gain an automatic place in the league phase of the 2026/27 Champions League, if they have not qualified via their domestic competition.