Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain will go head-to-head in the Champions League final on Saturday night
06:00, 30 May 2026
LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 29: Teams of PSG and Arsenal paying tribute to Pope Francis before the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Semi Final First Leg match between Arsenal FC and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) at Emirates Stadium on April 29, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)
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PSG lodged a complaint about Arsenal's away ticket allocation for the game in April 2025(Image: 2025 Jean Catuffe)
Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain renew acquaintances in the Champions League final on Saturday, with their previous meeting overshadowed by a ticket allocation row. Mikel Arteta and Luis Enrique's sides crossed paths in the semi-finals of last season's competition.
The French giants claimed the first leg in north London 1-0. Seven days later, they eliminated the Gunners 2-1 to advance to the final, where they lifted the trophy for the first time with a stunning 5-0 demolition of Inter Milan.
Yet just days before the first-leg semi-final, a degree of ill feeling surfaced between the two clubs. Arsenal confirmed that the French champions would receive only 2,500 away tickets rather than the standard allocation of 3,000.
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This came as a surprise to PSG, having been granted the full allocation for their league phase fixture at the Emirates back in October 2024.
UEFA regulations stipulate that clubs must allocate five per cent of a stadium's capacity to visiting supporters, yet 2,500 tickets amounts to closer to four per cent. Arsenal maintained that their decision was motivated by security concerns and had been made at the behest of local authorities.
According to sources, the London Marathon, which took place 48 hours prior to the match, was amongst the factors cited in relation to PSG's reduced ticket allocation.
Regardless of the circumstances, the French side made their frustration abundantly clear. They maintained that the decision contradicted the principles of 'fair play' and submitted a formal complaint to UEFA after the Gunners rejected their request for an additional 500 tickets, according to L'Equipe.
LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 29: Paris Saint-Germain fans during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Semi Final First Leg match between Arsenal FC and Paris Saint-Germain at Emirates Stadium on April 29, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
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The travelling PSG support was smaller than usual(Image: 2025 Visionhaus)
A PSG statement read: "PSG does not find this decision very fair play and has referred the matter to UEFA to try to obtain the quota of 3,000 tickets that are due to it according to UEFA regulations.
"The club could also explore other avenues of appeal between now and Tuesday if necessary. Parisian subscribers received an email on Thursday to buy their ticket for the Emirates."
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The administrative dispute escalated when Arsenal were subsequently allocated just 2,000 tickets for the return fixture. While this fell 500 short of UEFA's five per cent minimum requirement, PSG had been granted special permission to reduce the allocation to 4.1 per cent prior to the campaign's commencement at the request of local police.
The Arsenal Supporters' Trust criticised PSG's restrictive ticketing arrangements for the match. "It's not fair that every club that plays a Champions League game in Paris has less tickets for their supporters," AST board member Tim Payton told the Guardian.
PARIS, FRANCE - MAY 07: Achraf Hakimi of Paris Saint-Germain celebrates after scoring his teams second goal during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Semi Final Second Leg match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal FC at Parc des Princes on May 07, 2025 in Paris, France. (Photo by Lars Baron - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
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Arsenal are out for revenge after PSG won the semi last year(Image: 2025 UEFA)
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"We don't expect it will make much difference for next week's second leg but the new format means that English clubs are going to be playing PSG more regularly over the next few years so something needs to change."
Saturday's showpiece, Arsenal's first Champions League final appearance since 2006, takes place at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary. The stadium holds 67,215 supporters, yet according to the official Arsenal website, only 17,200 of those present will be Gunners fans.
PSG are understood to have received an identical allocation, while approximately 4,600 tickets have been made available to the general public worldwide through a ballot system on UEFA's official portal. UEFA confirms that 39,000 of the 61,400 tickets are accessible for supporters and the wider public to purchase directly.