Paris Saint-Germain arrive in Austria as reigning Champions League winners and UEFA Super Cup holders. Luis Enrique’s side lifted the trophy for the first time in 2025 and now have the chance to retain it. Since the Super Cup became a one-off final, only Real Madrid have successfully defended the title, doing so in 2016 and 2017. Overall, 30 of the previous 50 editions have been won by the reigning European Cup or Champions League holders.
PSG working with a short pre-season
The World Cup left Paris with an unusually brief pre-season. Part of the squad only returned to training on July 27, with several players involved at the World Cup joining even later. PSG played just two friendlies ahead of the new campaign: a 3-0 defeat away to RCD Mallorca was followed three days later by a 1-1 draw with Manchester United FC in Gothenburg. The Ligue 1 season does not begin for the French champions until August 23.
That leaves Luis Enrique with some difficult decisions to make when selecting his starting XI. Bradley Barcola, Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué, Fabián Ruiz, Achraf Hakimi, Lucas Hernández and Warren Zaïre-Emery remain fitness doubts. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, by contrast, completed the entire pre-season programme and is expected to start.
Akliouche and Digne strengthen PSG
Paris have also been active in the transfer market in recent weeks. Technically gifted attacker Maghnes Akliouche joined the Champions League winners from AS Monaco and signed a contract running until 2031. Lucas Digne then returned to the club only a few days ago. The French left-back arrived from none other than Aston Villa, rejoining PSG more than a decade after his first spell in Paris. He has signed until 2029 and could now make his competitive return against his former club.
Among those to leave is Gonçalo Ramos. The Portuguese striker joined AC Milan after three seasons in Paris, having scored 45 goals in 131 competitive appearances.
Mixed pre-season results for Aston Villa
Aston Villa travel to Salzburg as Europa League winners. Unai Emery’s side beat SC Freiburg 3-0 in the final in Istanbul. Youri Tielemans opened the scoring, Emiliano Buendía doubled the lead before half-time and Morgan Rogers sealed the victory after the break. It was Villa’s first European trophy for 44 years.
Unlike PSG, Villa were able to put together a much more extensive pre-season programme. A 5-0 win over Walsall was followed by a 2-1 defeat at FC Porto and a 4-2 loss to Real Sociedad. Emery’s team then won twice on their Asian tour, beating Indonesia All Stars and BG Pathum United 3-1, before losing their final warm-up 2-1 to Bayern Munich in Hong Kong. Villa therefore head into the Super Cup with three wins and three defeats from six friendlies.
Villa lose several key players
The squad has changed considerably over the summer. Morgan Rogers joined Chelsea FC, Youri Tielemans moved to Manchester United and Digne signed for PSG. Villa have therefore lost two of their goalscorers from the Europa League final as well as a long-serving first-team regular.
New arrivals include João Gomes from Wolverhampton Wanderers and Swiss midfielder Johan Manzambi from SC Freiburg. Alejandro Garnacho has joined on loan from Chelsea FC, while Modou Kéba Cissé has now formally become part of the Villa squad following his spell with LASK. Manzambi will miss the final with a knee injury, while Leon Bailey and Amadou Onana are also ruled out according to UEFA. There are also doubts over Garnacho, John McGinn, Ezri Konsa, Emiliano Martínez and Ollie Watkins.
Villa eye revenge for their last Champions League meeting
The two clubs already know each other from the Champions League. PSG prevailed 5-4 on aggregate in a dramatic quarter-final in 2024/25. Paris won the first leg 3-1, while Villa responded with a 3-2 victory in the return match. Those remain the only competitive meetings between the two sides.
Aston Villa also have history in the Super Cup. After winning the European Cup, the English club defeated FC Barcelona 3-1 on aggregate over two legs in the 1982/83 edition. PSG lifted the trophy for the first time last year, recovering from 2-0 down against Tottenham Hotspur FC to draw 2-2 before winning the subsequent penalty shootout. The same rule applies in Salzburg: if the match is level after 90 minutes, there will be no extra time and the trophy will be decided immediately on penalties.
Referee Omar Artan gets his big international stage
The appointment of the referee provides another remarkable storyline. UEFA has selected 34-year-old Somali official Omar Artan to take charge of the final. Artan has been on the FIFA international list since 2018, was named Africa’s best referee in 2025 and was also selected for the 2026 World Cup. However, he was unable to officiate at the tournament after being denied entry to the United States despite holding a valid visa.
UEFA subsequently appointed him to the Super Cup as part of its strengthened cooperation with the Confederation of African Football, explicitly highlighting the respect he has earned for his performances. Artan will therefore become the first non-European referee to take charge of a UEFA Super Cup final – receiving in Salzburg the international stage that had been denied to him only a few weeks earlier at the World Cup.
