PSG Wins Back-to-Back Champions League Titles — But Chaos Erupts in Paris

Daniel Kim 2026.06.01 Views

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PSG Wins Back-to-Back Champions League Titles

AFP/Yonhap NewsPSG players celebrated their UEFA Champions League victory with supporters at the Parc des Princes in Paris on the 31st (local time). PSG drew 1-1 with Arsenal after extra time in the final on the 30th and then beat them 4-3 on penalties to complete back-to-back Champions League titles.

Which country has produced the most Champions League winners? Paris Saint-Germain’s penalty shootout victory over Arsenal in the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League final put PSG back on top in Europe for a second straight season — and refocused attention on which nations have supplied the players who actually took the field in winning finals. According to UEFA, players who appeared for the winning side in European Cup and Champions League finals have come from 54 countries to date.

Spain leads the list. By UEFA’s tally, 80 Spanish players have featured in winning European Cup or Champions League finals. PSG midfielder Fabián Ruiz became Spain’s 80th winner with his appearance in this final. Spain remains ahead of traditional powerhouses such as Italy, England and Germany.

Italy is second with 74 players. England follows with 70 winners, Germany has produced 64, and the Netherlands accounts for 52. The top five are all long-established centers of European football.

AFP/Yonhap NewsPSG defender Marquinhos of Brazil hoisted the UEFA Champions League trophy during celebrations on the Champs de Mars in Paris on the 31st (local time). PSG drew 1-1 with Arsenal after extra time in the final on the 30th, and won 4-3 on penalties to secure back-to-back crowns.

Some non-European countries rank prominently as well. Portugal tops that extended list with 46 winners, while Brazil has produced 42 players who have featured in winning finals — more than France’s 39. Brazil’s deep pool of talent that has long fed Europe’s elite clubs explains that figure. Scotland also appears relatively high, with 26 winners.

PSG’s title run also highlighted nations that rarely produce winners. UEFA records show Ecuador and Morocco have each had just one player appear in a winning final: Ecuador’s Willian Pacho and Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi. Their roles in PSG’s campaign made them the sole Champions League final winners from their home countries.

By contrast, several countries have reached finals but never produced a winning player. Turkey (ranked 9th by UEFA coefficient), the highest-ranked nation by UEFA coefficient among those without a winner, has seen players reach finals only to finish runners-up — examples include Yıldıray Baştürk with Bayer Leverkusen in 2002, Hamit Altıntop with Bayern Munich in 2010, Nuri Şahin with Borussia Dortmund in 2013, and Hakan Çalhanoğlu with Inter Milan in 2023 and 2025.

Greece has an unusual distinction: it has supplied 12 players who appeared in European Cup or Champions League finals, yet none have won. Eleven Greeks played in Panathinaikos’s losing 1971 final, and Akis Zikos featured in AS Monaco’s 2004 defeat; all ended up as runners-up.

On the other end of the spectrum, San Marino — one of UEFA’s lowest-ranked countries by coefficient — has produced a winner. Massimo Bonini won the European Cup with Juventus in 1985, becoming the lone San Marino-born player to lift the trophy.

Reuters/Yonhap NewsPSG’s Lee Kang-in celebrated while holding the trophy after PSG beat Arsenal to win the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League final at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest, Hungary, on the 30th (local time).

South Korea has not yet appeared on UEFA’s list. The statistic counts players who actually played in the final for the winning side, not those who were only on the squad. Park Ji-sung was part of Manchester United’s 2007–08 Champions League-winning squad but did not play in the final, so he’s not listed. Lee Kang-in was on PSG’s roster during this campaign but did not step onto the field in the final, so UEFA’s data excludes him as well.

PSG’s victory has renewed interest in national winner tallies. PSG beat Arsenal on penalties to claim a second straight European crown. Since the Champions League’s current format began in 1992–93, only Real Madrid and PSG have successfully defended the title. After winning the club’s first Champions League last year, PSG repeated this year to complete a rare back-to-back.

The final itself was tightly contested. Arsenal struck early in the sixth minute when Kai Havertz opened the scoring. PSG struggled to break down Arsenal’s organized defense in the first half but pushed more aggressively after the break and created openings. In the 65th minute, Ousmane Dembélé converted a penalty to level the match. The contest moved through extra time and into a penalty shootout, where PSG kept its composure and sealed the win.

Celebrations in France, however, turned violent. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said at a press conference on the 31st that authorities arrested 780 people nationwide after PSG’s win and detained 457 of them. In Paris and surrounding areas alone, 592 people were detained; 57 police and gendarmes and 219 civilians were reported injured. Officials had deployed 22,000 security personnel across the country in anticipation of the final, but clashes erupted on the Champs-Élysées and around PSG’s stadium after the title was confirmed.