Mikel Arteta will lead Arsenal into a UEFA Champions League final on Saturday 30 May, when his Premier League champions face Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest, and the club will be attempting to win the competition for the first time.
That is why searches for has arsenal won champions league are spiking now: Arsenal have not previously lifted Europe’s top club prize, and the prospect of finally doing so — after already clinching the domestic title this season — has focused attention on a long-running question fans have asked for years.
The numbers underline what is at stake. Arsenal have already secured the Premier League crown and would become only the third team in history to capture their first Champions League and their domestic league in the same season if they prevail in Budapest; Manchester City completed that double three years ago. Only four clubs from England’s top flight have ever won the Champions League in the Premier League era — Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City — and Arsenal have so far not joined that list.
All of that matters because this would be more than a single trophy for Arteta and his players: it would place Arsenal among an exclusive group of clubs that have closed a season with both the domestic crown and Europe’s top prize. Manchester United managed the Premier League–Champions League double in 1998/99 and again in 2007/08; Liverpool and Celtic won their European crowns in seasons that matched domestic success in earlier eras. PSG arrive with fresh pedigree too — last season they won their league and secured the Champions League for the first time, defeating Inter Milan 5-0 in Munich — which makes Saturday’s match a clash not only of teams but of recent champions.
Arsenal’s history with this competition sharpens the moment. This will be just their second European Cup final; their only previous appearance ended in defeat to Barcelona in 2006. The club itself has long acknowledged the wait — noting that supporters have been waiting longer than anyone for a Champions League title — and that reality sits against the optimism of a squad that has already taken the domestic prize under Arteta’s management.
The contradiction is obvious: a team that has just won the Premier League, that has fought through Europe to reach a final, and that carries momentum and expectation, still faces a straight, single-match barrier to the one trophy that has eluded it. Paris Saint-Germain are the reigning Champions League winners and come into the game with the experience of having ended their own wait, while Arsenal must overcome the psychological weight of history and the practical challenge of beating a side that has already proved it can win Europe’s biggest game.
If Arteta’s side win in Budapest on Saturday 30 May, Arsenal will end the longest wait of any English club for a Champions League title and become just the third team to win their first Champions League and their domestic league in the same campaign. If they lose, the club’s long pursuit continues and the 2006 final will remain the solitary modern reminder that European glory has so far been out of reach. Either way, the question that has driven the searches and the headlines will be answered on one night in Budapest: can Mikel Arteta deliver Arsenal’s first Champions League trophy?
