In the 2025 UEFA Champions League final, Paris St-Germain defeated Inter Milan 5-0 in Munich to become the first-time winners of the competition. This marked the first French victory in the Champions League since Marseille in 1993. PSG, who have been under Qatar Sports Investments ownership since 2011, spent 2.3bn euros on transfer fees and had the most expensive starting XI of the match, costing £403m compared to Inter's £137m. After the win, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, PSG president, expressed his desire to win again.
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire stated that, given PSG's financial resources, they were expected to be a contender in the Champions League. The new Champions League format, which includes 36 teams instead of the previous 32, does not seem to have changed this expectation.
The new league phase offers more games, more goals, and increased opportunities for European heavyweights to play against one another. The new format was introduced following the collapse of the European Super League, which had been supported by most of the teams involved, including six English clubs. However, the European Super League was controversial due to its closed nature, as the founding members could not be relegated.
Next season, the Champions League will include six English Premier League teams, with Newcastle United qualifying as fifth-place finishers and Tottenham winning the Europa League. Twenty-two of the 36 places in the league phase will come from Europe's top-five leagues, with Spain securing five spots, Germany and Italy four each, and France three. The Netherlands will have two teams, while Portugal, Greece, Czech Republic, Turkey, and Belgium will have one each.
Only seven places will be decided through qualifying rounds, and Ian Dennis, senior football reporter at BBC Radio 5 Live, expressed concern about the dominance of English clubs in the competition.
The last true underdogs to win the Champions League were Porto in 2003-04. Since then, there have been 10 different winners, with Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Manchester United, Inter Milan, Manchester City, and Paris St-Germain each winning at least once. Kieran Maguire stated that the probability of another Porto winning the Champions League is similar to another Leicester City winning the Premier League, given the concentration of wealth in the hands of fewer clubs.
Arsenal, with a squad costing around £700m to £800m, are considered well-placed to potentially become the next first-time winners. Maguire also mentioned the possibility of an Italian or Spanish club winning the competition, but deemed it unlikely.
Source: BBC Sports Football
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