Welcome to the UEFA Champions League final

Aleksander Čeferin, UEFA president:

Welcome to Munich for the 2025 UEFA Champions League final!

It is a true pleasure to return to one of Europe’s most beautiful venues, which hosted the unforgettable final of 2012 and, more recently, provided us with many memorable moments during UEFA EURO 2024.

A very special thanks to the German Football Association (DFB) and its president, Bernd Neuendorf, for their hospitality and dedication in bringing another top sporting event to life. Tonight, we celebrate the culmination of a season that has delivered football at its very best.

This season, the UEFA Champions League has embraced a new format, injecting fresh excitement and a higher level of competition. It has allowed more teams than ever to challenge for glory in the world’s most prestigious club competition and offered great thrills, excitement and the best football to billions of fans across the globe.

The tremendous success of these reforms, made in a spirit of respect and understanding of all European football stakeholders – the clubs, the leagues and national associations – proves that the game can evolve to another level only by upholding the core values of open competition, sporting merit and solidarity. And when football thrives, everybody benefits.

Now, all eyes turn to the pitch for another magical night of European football. Two exceptional teams stand on the brink of glory, ready to give everything for the trophy that defines legends. The road to the final has been difficult, but there is one last step left to take.

I hope they will both be at the top of their game, and may the best team win!

Bernd Neuendorf, DFB president:

Last year, Germany and the DFB were privileged to host the UEFA European Championship for the second time, and for the first time since reunification in 1990. Having swept up the whole country in the summer of 2024, football mania now goes into extra time with another highlight – the UEFA Champions League final in Munich.

It’s the fifth occasion that the Bavarian capital has staged the final for the crown of European club football. Back in 1993, right after the competition had been renamed the UEFA Champions League, the time-honoured Olympiastadion served as the venue. Now the Munich Football Arena is ready to host its second final after 2012.

Football in Munich has a long and lively tradition, and not only in the shape of FC Bayern München, Germany’s flagship multi-championship-winning club and its legendary stars such as Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller, who also celebrated some fantastic successes with the national team. Equal praise is due to the many grassroots clubs where children and teens learn what respect and fair play are all about, and where countless volunteers render invaluable service in coaching, nurturing and looking after the champions of tomorrow.

We very much hope that Europe will return to Germany, and specifically Munich, in four summers’ time as the Munich Football Arena is one of 11 stadiums featuring in the German bid to host UEFA Women’s EURO 2029.

I wish you and all of us an exciting contest for the UEFA Champions League trophy – and may the best team win!