PSG vs Tottenham — UEFA Super Cup latest
Paris Saint-Germain face Tottenham Hotspur in today’s UEFA Super Cup in Udine, Italy.
It is the winners of the Champions League against the Europa League victors with this season’s first piece of European silverware on the line.
Thomas Frank has replaced Ange Postecoglou in a summer of change at Spurs while Luis Enrique is looking for more glory as PSG manager.
History on Tottenham’s side?
Because of their Champions League dominance, it isn’t surprising that Real Madrid are the record winners of the UEFA Super Cup having won it six times. Barcelona and Milan are tied second with five each.
In the last 11 years, it has only been won once by a team that wasn’t from Spain or England. That team was Bayern Munich in 2020, beating Sevilla after extra time.
Perhaps a good omen for Tottenham.
And we could be in for a long night given six of those 11 matches have needed extra time or penalties to decide the winner.
The European curtain raiser
Well, a curtain raiser of sorts. I say that because qualifying for the 2025-26 UEFA club competitions is already well underway.
But the Super Cup signifies the incoming of a new campaign ahead of the Champions League draw taking place on Thursday, August 28.
In a similar premise to the Community Shield in the English game, this match is a one-off between the winners of Europe’s two premier club competitions. The issue is that, more often than not, the Champions League winners are big favourites to beat the Europa League winners.
The sustainable stadium hosting the UEFA Super Cup
Away from the field this evening, something remarkable will be playing out.
Udinese’s stadium is at the heart of a project to marry football with environmental sustainability.
As drones beam overhead shots to television screens on Wednesday night before the game, it will be impossible not to notice the solar panels perched on the stadium’s roof. In all, there are 2,409 panels, producing over 1,000 Megawatt hours (MWh) of energy per year. That is enough to render the stadium, which uses around 770 MWh of energy per year, entirely self-sufficient.
It is powered exclusively by renewable energy, rather than by gas derived from fossil fuels.
The project will reduce costs for the Serie A club, but of far greater importance to their chief commercial officer, Magda Pozzo, is that it will lead to enhanced environmental sustainability, saving around 6,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from entering the atmosphere.
Playing host today
Stadio Friuli, Udine
The UEFA Super Cup is a game played at a neutral venue, so we are in northwestern Italy for this one.
Stadio Friuli, the home of Serie A side Udinese is certainly not one of Europe’s biggest stadia but it is one packed with character. It holds a very modest 25,132 fans and will be one that the vast majority of PSG and Tottenham supporters have never visited.
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