The 71st season of the European Cup – and 34th under the UEFA Champions League banner – is set to conclude at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest. For the second year running, Paris Saint-Germain will take part, with Arsenal being the opponent this time around.
Two teams who took very different paths to reach the showpiece look for continental glory in Hungary, having won their respective domestic leagues. However, this is the one that matters more.
Here at Football Lowdown, we preview Saturday’s Champions League final, looking at how both sides got to this point, domestic performance, as well as titleholder rebalancing. Finally, we will also predict who will come out on top.
Champions League Final Preview
Paris Saint-Germain
2025/26 Champions League Record: 10-4-2
League Phase Position: 11th
Domestic Performance: 1st in Ligue 1; lost in Coupe de France ninth round
Champions League Campaigns: 19 (previous best, winners last season)
After winning the UCL title for the first time 12 months ago, Paris Saint-Germain is looking to become the first club since 2017/18 to successfully defend the trophy.
Having completed the domestic treble last term, Les Parisiens were one of three French sides to qualify directly for the league phase. They started off well, winning each of their first three, before struggling towards the end. Failing to win any of their final three games, it resulted in them slipping down to 11th spot and competing in the knockout round playoffs – something they also did last term.
From there, Luis Enrique’s side has flourished once more. They went unbeaten in their eight knockout round games, getting past AS Monaco before comfortably dispatching Chelsea and Liverpool. PSG was put to the test in the semifinals, narrowly holding off Bayern Munich 6-5 on aggregate to make it back to the final. They now have the most appearances in the Champions League showpiece, with this being their third trip.
Overall, this is the ninth time there is a French club involved in the final of this competition, and fifth time in the UCL era. Before PSG’s success last May, Olympique Marseille was the only other side from their country to win Europe’s biggest prize, having done so in 1992/93. Now in their 14th straight season in this tournament, Les Parisiens will look for a repeat performance from a year ago.
Saturday will mark the 45th time that PSG will take on an English team, with their record being 18-10-16, going on an eight-game unbeaten run (7-1-0) to which they have prevailed in their last six. They have beaten seven of the eight Premier League clubs they have faced in Europe, with the sole exception being Newcastle.
Arsenal
2025/26 Champions League Record: 11-3-0
League Phase Position: 1st
Domestic Performance: 1st in Premier League; lost in FA Cup quarterfinals, lost in final of EFL Cup
Champions League Campaigns: 24 (previous best, finalists in 2005/06)
Two decades on from their only other Champions League final showing, Arsenal has found their way back to this stage, and in incredible fashion. The Gunners have yet to lose a game in the UCL this term, having been incredibly difficult to break down. They are now one game away from lifting Europe’s most prestigious competition for the very first time.
After a second-place finish in the Premier League in 2024/25, Arsenal reached the UCL proper for the 24th time. Entering the league phase as one of six English clubs, Mikel Arteta’s side became the first to win all eight matches in this round. The North Londoners kept five clean sheets, scoring multiple times in all eight games to finish top of the table.
In all three knockout round ties, Arsenal drew one of their matches and won the other. They defeated Bayer Leverkusen in the round of 16 before scoring just once in their quarterfinal elimination of Sporting CP. In the semifinals, Atlético Madrid was also no match as the Gunners managed to beat their Spanish opponents 2-1 over the two legs. Like PSG, only once did they fail to score in a match this term.
Arsenal is the sixth different English side to reach the UCL showpiece on multiple occasions, joining Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City, and Nottingham Forest. They will look to avoid joining Atlético Madrid, Reims, and Valencia as the only teams to never win the Champions League despite reaching multiple finals.
This will be the 31st time that Arsenal takes on a Ligue 1 club in Europe. They currently hold a 17-6-7 record in the 30 games, though most recent matches have been pretty equal, going 4-2-4 in their last 10. This is the eighth time in their last nine UCL campaigns in which the former finalists have taken on a Ligue 1 team, which making them a regular feature in Arsenal’s Champions League journeys.
How Saturday’s Final Impacts Next Season’s Competition
As has been the case for the last 20 years, the winner of the Champions League is guaranteed a spot in the competition’s group phase for the following fall. However, both PSG and Arsenal have qualified for the 2026/27 league phase due to their domestic success.
This means that, regardless of who lifts the trophy in Budapest, the winning side will occupy two UCL spots: one as the defending champions, and the other through their domestic league. As a result, Champions League titleholder rebalancing is required to reassign the domestic place belonging to the UCL winner.
In this scenario, the highest ranked domestic champions – by five-year UEFA club coefficient – due to enter the qualifying rounds will take the vacated league phase spot instead. This is already confirmed, with Ukrainian champion Shakhtar Donetsk being the benefactor. The Pitmen, who would have started in the second qualifying round, reached the last four of the UEFA Conference League, which played a part in them making the UCL proper for next fall.
On top of that, two teams are moved from the first qualifying round to the second to rebalance Shakhtar’s initial spot in that round. Again, this is decided by the five-year club coefficient. Slovak side Slovan Bratislava and Celje of Slovenia are the two to benefit here. Finally, one losing team from the first qualifying round will also enjoy the impact of rebalancing. This will not be known until July, when the opening round of qualification is complete.
There will be 14 losing teams in UCL Q1, who will drop to the Conference League second qualifying round, champions path. With eight teams required in the third qualifying round, two sides (lucky losers) will get a bye from Q2, instead of one due to the rebalancing.
Prediction: Who Wins the Champions League Final?
Unlike the Europa League and Conference League finals, PSG and Arsenal have met before in Europe. In total, they have had seven previous games against one another. The pair have two wins each, along with three draws. Before last season, PSG had never beaten the Gunners, having come out on top in both legs of their semifinals last term.
These are two sides who are in excellent form in the Champions League. After all, Arsenal has gotten to this stage without a loss this campaign. Should they win, it would be the third time in four years that the winner went unbeaten en route to the trophy. As for PSG, they are looking to become the ninth different side to defend the UCL. They have 21 wins over the last two years, the most they have ever had in a two-year period.
Who are we going with to prevail? It will be tight, but we are going with PSG. They have already faced English teams six times this season, winning five of them. Having scored a whopping 41 goals in 16 matches, it will take a lot from Arsenal to stop this side from finding the back of the net. In comparison, the Gunners scored multiple times just once in the knockout stage. Even though they only conceded twice in six games – versus 11 in eight for PSG – this is a different calibre of opponent the North London-based team will be facing. As such, PSG is our pick for the winner.
Whatever the outcome ends up being, Saturday’s final will culminate another remarkable year of Champions League football. Two sides who have shown immense quality from start to finish will meet to add a second trophy to what has been an incredibly successful season for both. Budapest will be ready for what promises to be a fascinating match between the English and French champions.
