The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield, up to and including the 2001 edition) is an annual

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

match organised by

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

and presently contested between the champions of the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

and the winners of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

. In the event where a club achieves the

domestic double The Double, in association football, is the achievement of winning a country's top tier division and its primary cup competition in the same season. The lists in this article examine this definition of a double, while derivative sections exami ...

, it will go on to face the league runners-up instead. The

match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden mat ...

is played every August as the "traditional curtain-raiser" and first trophy of the new English domestic football season. Since 1974, all but seven of the matches have been held at either the

original Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romanticism, by a notion t ...

or new Wembley stadiums. Stamford Bridge, which was where the inaugural Charity Shield was played in 1908, has hosted the second-most finals with 11. The format of the competition has been modified many times over the years. The game was initially contested between the champions of

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

and the

Southern Football League The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English ...

from its inception until 1912, after which both professional and amateurs players participated. Following a six-year suspension as a result of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, the competition resumed in 1920 with a game between the champions of the Football League First and

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

s. The following year saw the match arrangement changed again to become a match between the Football League champion and the winner of the

, switching several more times between the amateur/professional and league champion/FA Cup winner matches during the 1920s. From 1930 onwards it settled to a standard fixture between the FA Cup winner and the Football League champion, except on three occasions. In 1950, the England World Cup squad played the England team who toured Canada that summer, while double-winning

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

played an "F.A. Selected XI" in 1961 that was described by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' as being an "England team masquerading". A decade later in 1971,

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

won the double and opted against contesting the Shield in favour of playing in more profitable friendlies in Europe;

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

– the champions of the Second Division – took their place.

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

hold the record for the most victories, winning the competition 21 times since its inception. They also hold the distinction of having the most appearances (30) and most losses (9). Although the Shield has had its share of historical moments – from

Eric Cantona Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona (; ; born 24 May 1966) is a French actor, director, producer, and former professional footballer. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Cantona is credited as having made Manchester United a d ...

's first career

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three w ...

in 1992, to Manchester United's first loss of 1999 ending a streak of 33 consecutive games without a defeat – it has been dismissed as a ceremonial friendly that is not on par with other domestic honours in terms of prestige. Winning the Shield has proven to be an unreliable indicator of success in the forthcoming season. Since the establishment of the Premier League in 1992, only eight clubs that won the Shield proceeded to become League champions in the same season, the last being

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

in 2018–19. Indeed,

Gianluca Vialli Gianluca Vialli (; born 9 July 1964) is an Italian former football manager and player who played as a striker. Since retiring, he has gone into management, punditry and worked previously as a commentator for Sky Sport Italia. He is currentl ...

was sacked only weeks after guiding

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

to the victory in the 2000 match, following a lacklustre start to the season. The current holders are

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

, who defeated Manchester City 3–1 in the 2022 edition.

Results

Results by club

Teams shown in ''italics'' are no longer in existence, are still in existence but relocated, or were established only for the purpose of playing in these matches.

Notes

References

General * * * Specific

External links

Official website
{{featured list *

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is Football in England, English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA C ...