News
[Arsenal Media](/author/arsenal-media) 18 May 2025
It feels like the blink of an eye since I was reflecting on last season, and here we are again nearing the end of another campaign. We’ve shared some very special moments and learned some lessons along the way.
With two Premier League games to go and a Champions League final for our women’s team, there’s still plenty to play for. We are immensely proud that Renée will lead out our club at the UEFA Women’s Champions League final in Lisbon on Saturday. Whether you’re with us out there or watching here from Emirates Stadium or somewhere else in the world, we will all be right behind the team together. All of us.
We have such a talented women’s team. Mariona was not just our own Player of the Season, but the WSL Player of the Year, too, and Alessia was announced as the FWA’s Footballer of the Year this week. Now we just need the team to lift the trophy which would be a fitting reward for all the hard work and incredible support which has gone into getting us to Lisbon.
As a club, we’re striving to win major trophies and, on the men’s front, we know we have fallen short of what we all wanted this season. Despite not reaching the Champions League final in Munich, our run to the semi-final of the competition still created some of our best nights this season. Our match here against Real Madrid was one of the best games and the most electric atmospheres we’ve experienced at Emirates Stadium. The game we played at the Bernabeu will no doubt live forever with those lucky enough to have been there.Mikel and his coaching staff, as well as the players, faced some challenges throughout the season and I want to give credit to the way they managed in these circumstances. It’s in these moments you learn the most.Today, they will give everything to produce the result that confirms Champions League qualification for a third successive season. We’re still pursuing second place in the Premier League for the third year running, but we all want to win it.
We plan to invest to get behind winning and doing better next season. We’re delighted we have our sporting director, Andrea, who will play an important role in this. He is part of a unified and strong team, supported by the board, who are crystal clear on exactly what we need to do and the way in which we want to do it. The right way. The Arsenal way.
Ultimately, we all want the same thing. We’re as hungry for success as you are and that goes for everyone who works for the club. We have brilliant people right across Arsenal and I want to thank every member of staff for the dedication they have shown again this season. It’s something we have reflected on this week and it never goes unnoticed.
At the heart of so much of the club’s good work is Arsenal in the Community and I’d like to take this opportunity to recognise everyone who has been involved as we mark 40 years of this incredible team. We’re proud of our contribution to a winning community, but more than anything, proud of everyone who is a part of it and the thousands of participants we’ve engaged and the safe spaces we’ve built for our sport, inclusion, education and employment programmes.
Arsenal in the Community allows us to engage with people in so many ways that others just can’t, so it’s so important we use this force for good. It’s incredible to think our women’s team was born out of community when we simply opened up a space for girls and women to play football. It’s extraordinary what you can achieve when you commit to acting for a winning team, culture and community and you do it together. That’s who we are.
That just leaves me, on behalf of the board, to thank you, our supporters, for all your backing again this season. We recognise you are with us every step of the way and we love the support you give our club here in N5 and around the world. I’d also like to give special thanks to those who are with us week in and week out on the road in full voice at away grounds around the country. We understand how you’re all feeling at the end of the season and we feel it, too. That understanding and connection drives so much of what we’re trying to achieve in the 2025/26 season and beyond.
We wish you all a great summer and we look forward to seeing those who join us on pre-season in Asia in July and for many others, we will see you in August.Thank you again for your support.
**Josh Kroenke**
**Co-chair, Arsenal Football Club**
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