FA Community Shield facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
FA Community Shield

Organising body	The Football Association
Founded	1908; 117 years ago (1908)
Region	England
Number of teams	2
Related competitions	Sheriff of London Charity Shield (predecessor) FA Cup (qualifier) Premier League (qualifier)
Current champions	Manchester City (7th title)
Most successful club(s)	Manchester United (21 titles)
Television broadcasters	TNT Sports (United Kingdom) Sky Sports BBC Sport

The Football Association Community Shield is an exciting annual football match in England. It takes place at Wembley Stadium and kicks off the new English football season. This special game is played between the team that won the Premier League (England's top football league) and the team that won the FA Cup (a big knockout competition) in the previous season.

If one team manages to win both the Premier League and the FA Cup, then they play against the Premier League runners-up (the team that finished second). The Community Shield is usually held in early August. It's seen as a fun opening match, like a "curtain-raiser," rather than a major trophy. The money raised from ticket sales and match programs goes to help community projects and charities all over the country. The current champions are Manchester City, who won the 2024 FA Community Shield by beating Manchester United in a penalty shootout after a 1–1 draw.

History of the Community Shield

The Community Shield has a long history, starting way back in 1908. It took the place of an older match called the Sheriff of London Charity Shield, which began in 1898. The older match used to be played between professional and amateur football teams.

First Matches and Changing Rules

The very first Football Association Charity Shield match in 1908 was between Manchester United, who were the champions of the Football League, and Queens Park Rangers, the champions of the Southern League. The first game was a 1–1 draw, so they played again. Manchester United won the replay 4–0. This was the only time the Shield needed a second match. Both games were played at Stamford Bridge.

For many years, the rules for the match changed often. Sometimes it was still professionals against amateurs. In 1921, the Shield was first played between the Football League champions and the FA Cup winners, which is similar to how it is today. By 1930, the competition mostly settled into its current format: the league champions playing against the FA Cup winners.

Special Games and New Rules

There were a few unusual matches. For example, in 1950, the England team played against an FA team. In 1961, Tottenham Hotspur, who had won both the league and FA Cup, played against a special Football Association team.

Since 1959, the match has always been held at the start of the football season. Sometimes, if a team won both the league and FA Cup, it was tricky to find an opponent. In 1971, Arsenal couldn't play, so Leicester City (who were Second Division champions) played against Liverpool (who were FA Cup runners-up). Leicester City won, even though they hadn't won the league or FA Cup before!

In 1974, a person named Ted Croker from the FA made the rules clear. From then on, it would always be the league champions against the FA Cup winners, and the match would be held at Wembley Stadium every year. Before 1993, if a game was a draw, both teams would share the trophy. But since 1993, if the score is tied, they have a penalty shootout to decide a winner.

Renaming and Modern Times

When the Premier League started in 1992, the Shield became a match between the Premier League champions and the FA Cup winners. In 2002, the competition's name was changed from "Charity Shield" to "Community Shield." This happened because the Football Association wanted to be clearer about how the money raised was used for charity. Arsenal won the first Community Shield match, beating Liverpool 1–0.

In 2016, the original 1908 trophy was fixed up and then sold for charity. The money went to the Bobby Moore Fund, which helps with Cancer Research UK.

Rules of the Game

The rules for the Community Shield are mostly the same as those for the Premier League. Each team starts with 11 players and can have 7 substitutes on the bench. However, in the Community Shield, teams are allowed to make up to six substitutions during the game. In most other competitions, only five substitutions are allowed.

If the score is tied after 90 minutes of play, the teams go straight to a penalty shootout to decide the winner. There is no extra time played. As mentioned before, if one team wins both the Premier League and the FA Cup, the team that finished second in the Premier League will play in the Community Shield.

Is it a Friendly Match or a Serious Competition?

The Community Shield is often called the "curtain-raiser" for the English football season. It's like the first big event that gets everyone excited for the year ahead. The Football Association officially sees it as a friendly match for certain rules. This means that yellow or red cards a player gets in this match do not carry over to the regular league season. Also, goals scored in the Community Shield do not count towards a player's total goals for individual awards.

Many teams use the match to help players get fit before the season starts. They might give playing time to players who haven't played much or those coming back from injuries. Some football experts have even called it a "glorified friendly." For example, Sir Alex Ferguson, a famous manager, once said that Manchester United used the game to check their players' fitness.

However, some teams and players take the match very seriously, especially when big rivals play each other. Players like John Terry have shown how much they wanted to win it. Managers like Claudio Ranieri and Pep Guardiola have also said that their teams would play their best to win the trophy. They see it as an important first test of the season.

Community Shield Records

• The teams with the most wins are Manchester United (21 titles), Arsenal (17 titles), Liverpool (16 titles), and Everton (9 titles).
• The highest-scoring game was in 1911, when Manchester United beat Swindon Town 8–4.
• Everton holds the record for most wins in a row (4) from 1984 to 1987.
• Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Pat Jennings scored a goal from his own penalty area against Manchester United in the 1967 Charity Shield. The game ended in a 3–3 draw, so the trophy was shared.
• Brighton & Hove Albion is the only club to have won just the Shield (in 1910) and never the FA Cup or the League.

Venues for the Match

The Community Shield has been played at many different football stadiums over the years.

Permanent Venues

Since 1974, the Community Shield has mostly been played at a few main stadiums:

• Old Wembley Stadium: This was the main home from 1974 to 2000.
• Millennium Stadium: This stadium in Cardiff hosted the match from 2001 to 2006 while the new Wembley Stadium was being built.
• New Wembley Stadium: Since 2007, this has been the main home for the Community Shield. It hosted the match from 2007 to 2011, 2013 to 2021, and from 2023 to the present day.

Other Host Stadiums

Before 1974, the match was played at various stadiums, sometimes at one of the competing teams' home grounds.

Stadiums shown in italics no longer exist.

The first stadium to host the match was Stamford Bridge in 1908. The most recent time it was played away from Wembley was at the King Power Stadium in 2022. This happened because Wembley was hosting the final of the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 the next day.

Winners of the Community Shield

Teams with the Most Wins

The trophy

See also

In Spanish: Community Shield para niños