On Wednesday, August 12, the 51st edition of the UEFA Super Cup will take place at the Salzburg Arena in Salzburg, Austria. The match will feature UEFA Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain, for whom Ukrainian defender Illia Zabarnyi plays, and UEFA Europa League winners Aston Villa. PSG could become the second team after Real Madrid to win the Super Cup twice in a row, while Aston Villa will attempt to claim the trophy for the first time since 1982, UNN writes.
What is known about the UEFA Super Cup
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual tournament held under the auspices of UEFA that opens the European football season. The tournament consists of a single match between the winners of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League from the previous season. The tournament was devised by Dutch journalist Anton Witkamp to determine the best club in Europe once and for all.
The UEFA Super Cup trophy is 58 cm high and weighs 12.2 kg.
Made by IACO Group, the current model has been used since 2006 but retains the basic design of its predecessor. The classic bowl is held aloft on a base that is subtly twisted like a skein of wool, while two handles give the winners enough room to grasp it firmly as they complete their lap of honour.
UEFA Super Cup trophy
"PSG"
Luis Enrique's PSG, as the winners of the 2025/2026 Champions League season, will attempt in the traditional opening match of the European club season to become only the second team in the modern era to retain this trophy. The first was Real Madrid, who won the UEFA Super Cup in 2016 and 2017. Last year, the French champions defeated Tottenham on penalties in Udine.
PSG won the UEFA Super Cup, beating Tottenham in a penalty shootout14.08.25, 00:35
Ukrainian defender Illia Zabarnyi plays for the Parisians and could become the tenth Ukrainian to win the UEFA Super Cup. Previously, this was achieved by Oleh Blokhin, Leonid Buryak, Volodymyr Veremeyev, Viktor Kolotov, Yevhen Rudakov, Andriy Shevchenko, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, and Andriy Lunin, who won the trophy twice.
It should be noted that although Zabarnyi did not play in last year's final, he received a medal from the Parisians' captain, Marquinhos. At the time, PSG had not managed to register the Ukrainian for the match, so he missed it.
Illia Zabarnyi with the UEFA Super Cup trophy from the 2024/2025 season
"Aston Villa"
PSG's path is now blocked by Aston Villa, who thrashed Freiburg in the UEFA Europa League final in May.
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It should be noted that in the 1982 season, the Birmingham side had already won the UEFA Super Cup. They defeated Barcelona 3:1 on aggregate over two legs.
The stadium before the match
The 2026 UEFA Super Cup match will be held at the Salzburg stadium in Austria.
This arena, which hosted three group-stage matches at EURO 2008, will host a European club competition final for the first time. Salzburg will become the 14th city to host the UEFA Super Cup after the long-standing tradition of staging the match in Monaco was changed. Previous host cities for the UEFA Super Cup were: Prague (2013), Cardiff (2014), Tbilisi (2015), Trondheim (2016), Skopje (2017), Tallinn (2018), Istanbul (2019), Budapest (2020), Belfast (2021), Helsinki (2022), Piraeus (2023), Warsaw (2024), Udine (2025).
Salzburg Arena
The teams have met only twice before—in the quarter-finals of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League. That tie proved highly exciting and dramatic. Villa were trailing 1:5 on aggregate but then came close to completing an impressive comeback. Nevertheless, the French side advanced, winning 5:4 on aggregate.
However, although the teams met only in the quarter-finals of last season's Champions League, the rivalry between Luis Enrique and Unai Emery has a long history in European competitions.
In particular, in 2015 Luis Enrique's Barcelona defeated Unai Emery's Sevilla in the UEFA Super Cup—5:4. Interestingly, Ukrainian winger Yevhen Konoplyanka scored for Sevilla in that match.
In 2017, Enrique's Barcelona knocked Emery's PSG out in the Champions League round of 16 by an aggregate score of 6:5.
The match will be officiated by Somali referee Omar Artan, who was denied entry to the United States to officiate matches at the 2026 World Cup.
Omar Artan - the match's head referee
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The match can be watched live on the Megogo video platform. The broadcast will be available on the "Megogo Football 1" channel.
The bookmakers consider "PSG" the favorite to win the match. A victory for Luis Enrique's side in regular time is priced at 1.78. The draw is valued at odds of 4. An "Aston Villa" win is priced at 4.
Bets on the Parisians winning the UEFA Super Cup are being accepted at odds of 1.45. The Birmingham side's outright triumph is priced at 2.62.