Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain meet on Wednesday for the European Super Cup, a game between the winners of last season’s Champions League and Europa League.

Thomas Frank has the chance to lift a trophy in his first game as Spurs’ head coach, and PSG will be looking to show they are still Europe’s dominant team, despite a 3-0 defeat against Chelsea in the Club World Cup final last month.

Here, The Athletic’s Liam Tharme (PSG) and Elias Burke (Spurs) will guide you through each club’s summer activity, what to expect at Udinese’s Stadio Friuli, and just how much this match matters…

How are both sides looking?

Liam Tharme: It’s hard to call PSG weak considering their past 12 months — winning the quadruple, including the Champions League that they had obsessed over — but the 3-0 defeat against Chelsea in the Club World Cup final was chastening.

Three goals in 21 minutes took the final out of PSG’s reach before half-time, a significant contrast from their dominance in two other finals in 2025: they were 2-0 up after 20 minutes in both the Coupe de France final versus Reims and the Champions League final against Inter.

Up until the final in the United States, their well-coached passing game allowed them to dictate the tempo in sweltering conditions before blowing away tired teams.

It has been a reserved summer of transfers from PSG, at least by their standards, but the signing of Illia Zabarnyi from Bournemouth adds depth at centre-back. They have continued to hoover up the best Ligue 1 talent, too, bringing in goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier from Lille.

First-choice goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma is not in the squad amid speculation over his future, so expect Chevalier or No 2 Matvei Safonov to start. Midfielder Joao Neves is suspended after being sent off in the Club World Cup final. Otherwise, PSG should be at full strength.

Elias Burke: If last week’s 4-0 friendly defeat away at Bayern Munich is anything to go by, Tottenham are not heading into this game in great shape. An anterior cruciate ligament injury to James Maddison has left Spurs’ midfield short on creativity, but at least the signing of Joao Palhinha should stabilise a defence that conceded 65 goals in the league last season.

Dominic Solanke has not featured in pre-season since playing the first half in Spurs’ 2-0 win over Reading on July 19, and may not be fit to start, leaving Spurs without several key attacking players.

The club are in the market to fill the voids left by Maddison and Son Heung-min, who was sold to Los Angeles FC this month, with rumours linking Spurs to Manchester City winger Savinho. Given his squad is still not entirely ready, Frank may be wishing this fixture could have fallen a week or two later.

How seriously will they be taking it?

Tharme: Seriously. PSG have only played in one European Super Cup final, back in 1996, after they won the Cup Winners’ Cup (a defunct continental tournament for domestic cup winners).

Juventus beat them 9-1 across two legs, including a 6-1 battering at the Parc des Princes, where PSG were 4-0 down by half-time.

Reimagination has been the theme under Luis Enrique since his arrival as head coach three years ago — PSG are creating their own, younger superstars instead of buying them outright.

Burke: If any Spurs fans had forgotten the feeling of winning silverware after a 17-year trophy drought, the celebrations following last season’s Europa League triumph will have reminded them how galvanising it is. For Frank, Wednesday’s game provides an early chance to win silverware and curb any lingering doubts over the club’s decision to part with Ange Postecoglou.

It’s also an opportunity for the players to test themselves against the European champions before a Champions League campaign. Giving a good account of themselves against the holders should help build confidence within the squad that they can progress from the league phase and approach the knockout stages with belief.

What will be their big strength here?

Tharme: Flexibility in attack. If Postecoglou had still been in charge of Spurs, PSG’s intense, suffocating high pressing against his short build-up approach would have made for a tactical spectacle. Under Frank, Tottenham are expected to be much more pragmatic.

Spurs’ varied approach increases the importance of PSG’s box-crashing and underlapping runs from right-back Achraf Hakimi and left-back Nuno Mendes. So often, as for the opener in the Champions League final, one of PSG’s full-backs becomes the spare, untracked player in the box.

Watch out for Ousmane Dembele’s fluid positioning, too. He has been reinvented from a winger to a central ‘No 9’ under Luis Enrique, though he still drops deep and can just as often be the one to create a goal as score it.

Burke: As it is Frank’s first competitive game in charge of Tottenham, there’s very little for Luis Enrique to analyse. Spurs set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation against Bayern, but they could benefit from the element of surprise should Frank tweak his system in Italy.

What will be their weak spot?

Tharme: PSG’s dominance of the ball and territory could open up space for Tottenham to exploit on the break. Take your pick from Mathys Tel, Brennan Johnson, Mohammed Kudus or Wilson Odobert, and you can see the abundance of ball-carrying and running power in Frank’s squad.

Only Liverpool (14) scored more than Tottenham’s 10 goals from Opta-defined ‘fast breaks’ last season. PSG are generally quick to win the ball back after losing it, but they did concede four goals from the five fast-break shots they faced, so swift counter-attacking moves could be dangerous.

Burke: Without Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski, who will miss the start of the season with a knee injury, there is a concerning lack of creativity in Tottenham’s midfield. Spurs scored two goals in their last four pre-season friendlies, including a drab 0-0 draw away against Luton Town.

Pape Matar Sarr’s industry has provided a necessary alternative for Frank as an advanced midfield, with the Senegal international’s ability to win the ball high up the pitch proving effective against Wycombe Wanderers and Arsenal. Whether Frank opts for Sarr or tries Lucas Bergvall or Odobert as the third midfielder may have a bearing on Tottenham’s attacking display against PSG.

Who is the manager and what has he said about the game?

Tharme: Luis Enrique has turned PSG into one of the most feared sides in Europe. Underpinned by a focus on control over chaos, the former Barcelona and Spain head coach has made PSG less reliant on moments of individual brilliance and more refined as a collective unit.

“We want to be ready to go for all the titles,” Luis Enrique told UEFA. “We all believe that we can win all of them and repeat this feat again this year, which would mean going down in history in true style, and that gives us special motivation.

“The aim for this upcoming season is to improve. In terms of titles, it’s going to be harder because there are more to play for. But in footballing terms, we’ll improve as a team, both in attack and defence. We can still identify phases of the game to get better in.”

Burke: Frank is experienced at Premier League level, but taking a side into a major European game will be entirely new for the 51-year-old. Replacing Postecoglou, who proved his European chops by taking Spurs all the way in the Europa League last term, the onus is on the Dane to make Tottenham competitive in the Champions League this season. This is his first opportunity to demonstrate his tactical nous in Europe against the finest the continent has to offer.

Frank seemed to be up for the challenge, telling reporters, “For the club, for the team, for me, for everybody involved at Tottenham Hotspur, it’s a massive game. A great challenge and an even bigger opportunity. That’s how my brain works, I see opportunities instead of pressure.”

(Top photos: Luis Enrique and Thomas Frank; Carl Recine/Yu Chun Christopher Wong/Getty Images)