Arsenal to stage title parade in Islington after Champions League final heartache

Arsenal will send four open-top buses through Islington on Sunday at 2pm, trying to convert the emotional aftershock of Champions League night into a public celebration of its first Premier League title in 22 years.

The parade comes less than 24 hours after Mikel Arteta’s side face Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest on Saturday at 5pm UK time. Arsenal said the procession would honour the league title regardless of the result, but it could also mark a Champions League triumph if the club beats PSG, a possibility that would transform a single-season reward into a rare double.

That contrast, between heartbreak and jubilation, will define the weekend around Emirates Stadium. Arsenal warned that the parade will bring road closures, parking suspensions and major local disruption across Islington, where large numbers of supporters are expected to gather. The club also told fans without tickets for the Champions League final screening at Emirates Stadium to stay away from the area that evening, saying crowds could interfere with preparations for Sunday’s celebration.

The route will include both the men’s and women’s teams, underlining how Arsenal is presenting the title as a club-wide achievement rather than a one-team moment. A Champions truck with DJs will lead the procession, while the final bus will carry Arsenal in the Community participants and staff chosen by their peers, a nod to the borough-based identity that the club is trying to foreground even in the glare of elite European football.

Arsenal’s league title ended a 22-year wait stretching back to the unbeaten 2003-04 Invincibles season under Arsène Wenger. That history hangs over the weekend as much as the final itself: one result in Budapest could sharpen the mood in North London, while another could leave the club trying to absorb defeat and still sell a victory lap.

The parade will be streamed live for supporters unable to attend in person, but Arsenal expects the streets around Islington to fill early. In a span of two days, the club is asking fans to hold two emotions at once, to carry the pain of a final and the pride of a title, and to turn both into movement through the same streets.