Arsenal Reach Final Champions League 2026 After 2-1 Aggregate Win
Arsenal reached final champions league 2026 after beating Atletico Madrid 1-0 on Tuesday to complete a 2-1 aggregate victory. The win sent them into the Champions League final in Budapest on May 30 and took their UEFA prize money this season to £122m.
Atletico Madrid Fell 2-1
The second leg was decided by Arsenal’s narrow 1-0 win, which finished the tie after the first leg left the semi-final balanced at 2-1 on aggregate. Arsenal now move on to face either Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain for the trophy.
The semi-final itself brought in £16m, and Arsenal would add another £10m if they win the final and lift the trophy for the first time. That is the immediate financial lift attached to the result, alongside the place in Budapest and a shot at the club’s first Champions League title.
Arsenal’s Summer Window
The prize-money total matters because Arsenal go into the summer window with a stronger balance sheet after spending £267m on eight new signings last summer and generating only £10m in sales. They recorded the highest net spend among Premier League clubs at £257m, then posted a pre-tax loss of £1.4m in their 2024/25 financial results in February.
Arsenal are not in a position where they have to sell before they can buy, but sales are expected to be part of the window as the club looks for a more even balance sheet. Under the Premier League’s new Squad Cost Ratio rule, clubs will be able to spend a maximum of 85 per cent of their revenue on squad costs next season.
Kiwior And Hincapie
Jakub Kiwior is already expected to depart after Porto activated a clause to sign him for £19m. Piero Hincapie’s permanent £45m switch from Bayer Levekusen is also expected to be formalised, while Ben White, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri have all been linked with moves or sales speculation.
For Arsenal, the result in Budapest is only part of the story. The bigger immediate gain is that the run has put £122m on the books and given the club more room to shape a summer window that will still need sales as well as signings.
