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2026 UEFA Champions League final
| Column 1 |
|---|
| The Puskás Aréna in Budapest will host the final. |
| 2025–26 UEFA Champions League |
| Winner SF1 |
| Arsenal |
| 30 May 2026 (2026-05-30) |
| Puskás Aréna, Budapest |
The 2026 UEFA Champions League final will be the final match of the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League, the 71st season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 34th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. It will be played at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest, Hungary, on 30 May 2026 between the winner of semi-final 1, Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich, and English club Arsenal.
The winners will earn the right to play against the winners of the 2025–26 UEFA Europa League in the 2026 UEFA Super Cup, compete in the final of the 2026 FIFA Intercontinental Cup, and qualify for the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup.
Arsenal reached their second European Cup/Champions League final, having lost to Barcelona in 2006. This is their eighth UEFA competition final overall, having triumphed in the 1994 European Cup Winners' Cup final. They lost the Cup Winners' Cup finals in 1980 and 1995, as well as losing the 1994 European Super Cup, 2000 UEFA Cup final, and 2019 UEFA Europa League final.
In the following table, finals until 1992 were in the European Cup era and since 1993 were in the UEFA Champions League era.
| Team | Previous final appearances (bold indicates winners) |
|---|---|
| Winner SF1 | |
| Arsenal | 1 (2006) |
On 17 May 2023, UEFA opened the bidding process for the final, which was held in parallel with that of the 2027 final. Interested bidders could bid for either one or both of the finals. Additionally, bidding associations could only be appointed one UEFA final in a given year. The proposed venues had to include natural grass and be ranked as a UEFA category four stadium, with a gross capacity of at least 70,000 preferred. The bidding timeline was as follows:
- 17 May 2023: Applications formally invited
- 17 July 2023: Closing date for registering intention to bid
- 26 July 2023: Bid requirements made available to bidders
- 15 November 2023: Submission of preliminary bid dossier
- 21 February 2024: Submission of final bid dossier
- 22 May 2024: Appointment of host
UEFA announced on 18 July 2023 that two associations had expressed interest in hosting the 2026 and 2027 finals during the first bidding process.
| Association | Stadium | City | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hungary | Puskás Aréna | Budapest | 67,215 |
| Italy | San Siro | Milan | 75,817 |
The Puskás Aréna was selected as the venue by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, on 22 May 2024.
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).
| Winner SF1 | Round | Arsenal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Result | League phase | Opponent | Result | ||||
| Matchday 1 | Athletic Bilbao | 2–0 (A) | ||||||
| Matchday 2 | Olympiacos | 2–0 (H) | ||||||
| Matchday 3 | Atlético Madrid | 4–0 (H) | ||||||
| Matchday 4 | Slavia Prague | 3–0 (A) | ||||||
| Matchday 5 | Bayern Munich | 3–1 (H) | ||||||
| Matchday 6 | Club Brugge | 3–0 (A) | ||||||
| Matchday 7 | Inter Milan | 3–1 (A) | ||||||
| Matchday 8 | Kairat | 3–2 (H) | ||||||
| Final position | 1st placeAdvanced to round of 16 | |||||||
| Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Knockout phase | Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Play-offs | Bye | |||||||
| Round of 16 | Bayer Leverkusen | 3–1 | 1–1 (A) | 2–0 (H) | ||||
| Quarter-finals | Sporting CP | 1–0 | 1–0 (A) | 0–0 (H) | ||||
| Semi-finals | Atlético Madrid | 2–1 | 1–1 (A) | 1–0 (H) |
American rock band The Killers (pictured in 2017) were announced to perform at the 2026 UEFA Champions League final's opening ceremony.
On 26 March 2026, American indie rock band The Killers were announced as the performers for the final's Pepsi opening ceremony, and was promoted by a trailer starring Killers frontman Brandon Flowers and football star David Beckham on a short film named The Race Begins.
The winner of semi-final 1 will be designated as the "home" team for administrative purposes.
On 28 August 2025, UEFA announced that starting from 2026, the kick-off time for the Champions League final would be at 18:00 CEST, earlier than the previous 21:00. The decision was designed to "enhance the matchday experience and benefit fans, teams and host cities".
| Column 1 | Column 2 |
|---|---|
| Match rules |
90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary
Penalty shoot-out if scores still level
Maximum of twelve named substitutes Maximum of five substitutions, with a sixth allowed in extra time Maximum of three substitution opportunities, with a fourth allowed in extra time |
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2026 UEFA Europa League final
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2026 UEFA Conference League final
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2026 UEFA Women's Champions League final
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2026 UEFA Women's Europa Cup final
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2026 UEFA Super Cup
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