Arsenal and Man City to Face Off in 2026 Community Shield on Sunday

Arsenal and Manchester City will clash on Sunday, August 16, in the 2026 FA Community Shield. This match serves as the kickoff for the 2026/27 Premier League season.

The Premier League website shared on Saturday that Arsenal, the current Premier League champions, will go up against Manchester City. City won the FA Cup by beating Chelsea in May.

The Community Shield started in 1908. It is played every year between the Premier League champions and the FA Cup winners. If a team wins both tournaments, the Premier League runners-up take their spot in the match.

Crystal Palace holds the title right now. They beat Liverpool 3-2 on penalties after a 2-2 draw last August.

Community Shield trophy with the image of Bruno and Semenyo

This Sunday will mark the first time Arsenal and City meet since their Premier League game in April, where Pep Guardiola's team won 2-1.

The two teams also faced each other in the 2026 EFL Cup final. City won that match 2-0 thanks to two goals from Nico O’Reilly in the second half.

Their last Community Shield match happened in 2023. Arsenal won that one 4-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in regular time.

The winner of this match will take home the first major domestic trophy of the new season.

Instead of a regular trophy, the winning team gets a shield. This shield has plates with the names of past winners and the years they won.

But winning the Community Shield doesn’t always mean winning the Premier League.

The Premier League pointed out that in the last 16 years, only once has a team won both the Community Shield and the Premier League in the same season. Manchester City did this in 2018/19.

Since the Premier League started in 1992, teams have managed to win both only eight times.

Manchester United has won both four times, in 1993/94, 1996/97, 2007/08, and 2010/11. Chelsea managed this in 2005/06 and 2009/10. Manchester City also did it in 2018/19.

Interestingly, the Premier League website mentioned that the team that loses the Community Shield has gone on to win the Premier League more often than the winner. This has happened 10 times compared to eight times for the winning team since 1992.