Champions League Final MVPs: Can history be rewritten?

Ahead of the 2025/26 Champions League final between Arsenal and PSG, UEFA has released a retrospective of the best players in the tournament's final matches, dating back to 2001.

An intriguing pattern has emerged over the last quarter-century: no player has managed to win this individual accolade in two consecutive seasons. In this year's final, PSG winger Désiré Doué has the unique opportunity to make history, having been named the best player of the 2024/25 Champions League final.

The list of winners includes many European football legends, starting with Oliver Kahn, who claimed the award in 2001 while playing for Bayern Munich, and continuing through to modern stars like Rodri and Dani Carvajal.

This long-standing statistical milestone adds an extra layer of intrigue to the upcoming final, as a potential repeat performance by Désiré Doué would break a record that has stood since the turn of the millennium.