Declan Rice has been named to the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League Team Of The Season, the competition’s Technical Observer Group confirmed on Wednesday — the second consecutive season the Arsenal midfielder has made the official XI.
The selection is the official post‑season judgement on individual performance across the campaign, and it is the immediate reason fans and analysts are searching for the UEFA Champions League Team Of The Season now: Paris Saint‑Germain supplied five players to the XI, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was voted Player of the Season and Vitinha, who was Player of the Match in the final, is included in midfield.
The list of named individuals underlines why the group’s verdict matters. PSG’s five selections include Kvaratskhelia on the left wing, Vitinha in midfield, Marquinhos and Nuno Mendes in defence, and Ousmane Dembélé up front. Bayern München are represented twice, by Michael Olise and Harry Kane, and Atlético de Madrid have Marcos Llorente in the XI. Arsenal are credited with three players in the Team of the Season; two of those players named in the available details are Gabriel and Rice.
That last point is the friction at the heart of this season’s list: Paris Saint‑Germain won the competition, yet Arsenal — who reached the final in Budapest — still see three players honoured. Arsenal’s run to the final included defensive work that the club notes — Gabriel and David Raya helped keep nine clean sheets on the road to Budapest — and the Technical Observer Group’s choices appear to reward consistent contributions over the course of the whole campaign as much as the result of one match or one weekend.
Rice’s repeat selection crystallises that approach. The midfielder’s inclusion for a second straight year is a marker of sustained influence in Arsenal’s midfield across 2025/26, and it stands out amid a Team of the Season packed with winners and high performers: Kvaratskhelia took the Player of the Season honour and Vitinha’s final performance earned him Player of the Match in the decisive game that delivered PSG the title.
The official XI as released shows PSG supplying the most names and underlines individual recognition that can diverge from club silverware. What remains unclear from the available details is the complete picture of the XI — specifically which goalkeeper and which full defensive lineup complete the team beyond the players enumerated in the published details. That omission matters because the missing pieces would determine how balanced the XI is between attack and defence and whether any other clubs made multiple, perhaps surprising, entries.
For now the headline is simple and confirmed: Declan Rice is in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League Team Of The Season again, Paris Saint‑Germain supplied five players and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was the season’s standout. The unresolved question — which goalkeeper and which remaining defenders fill out the XI — will be decisive for how critics and supporters finally judge the squad’s composition and the Technical Observer Group’s priorities this season.
