Community Shield Live Scores, Fixtures & Results

Community Shield, officially the Football Association Community Shield and commonly known as the FA Community Shield, is an English men’s cup competition and annual super-cup fixture that brings together the winners of the Premier League and the FA Cup. Organised by The Football Association, it is played at Wembley Stadium and traditionally opens the new English football season.

What is the Community Shield?

The Community Shield is a one-off meeting between the leading domestic champions of the previous campaign. Its place in the English football calendar is distinctive: it is not a league programme or a multi-round knockout tournament, but a single match that links the season just completed with the one about to begin. The fixture offers an early contest between two clubs that have already proved themselves at the highest level of the English game.

The match is also built around a charitable purpose. Proceeds are distributed to community initiatives, while clubs that reached the FA Cup first round proper can receive support for charitable projects. That combination of elite competition and community benefit is central to the Shield’s identity and helps explain why the occasion has retained a prominent place in the national football calendar.

Qualification and entry

Qualification is earned through success in the two most important senior competitions of the preceding English season. The Premier League champions take one place and the FA Cup winners take the other. There is no open qualifying route, group phase or league-based entry system for additional teams.

If one club completes the domestic double by winning both the Premier League and the FA Cup, the FA Cup qualification place passes to the Premier League runners-up. This preserves the two-team structure while ensuring that the Shield remains a contest between the winners of the country’s principal league and cup competitions, or their designated replacements under the double-winning rule.

Format and match rules

The competition consists of a straight final at Wembley Stadium. There are no semi-finals, preliminary rounds or second legs. The match is played over 90 minutes of regulation time. If the scores are level after those 90 minutes, there is no extra time: the winner is decided immediately by a penalty shootout.

Teams may make up to six substitutions. This allowance reflects the fixture’s position at the transition between seasons, when clubs are preparing for competitive campaigns and managing players’ workloads. The Shield’s match rules therefore give the occasion a slightly different character from a standard league fixture, even though the result produces a recognised winner and a piece of silverware.

The event is often described as a super cup because it places the holders of the league and the national cup directly against one another. At the same time, it has traditionally carried a ceremonial or friendly aspect. That dual identity is part of its appeal: clubs compete for a historic trophy and an early statement of intent, while the match also serves as a high-profile final preparation before the league campaign begins.

When is it played?

The fixture is traditionally held in August, usually on the weekend before the Premier League season starts. Its timing makes it the customary curtain-raiser to the English football year. The match gives supporters an immediate opportunity to see the previous season’s leading sides in competitive action, while providing managers with a final test of squad balance, fitness and tactical plans.

Although it is staged in London, the Community Shield attracts an international audience and is followed well beyond England. Its Wembley setting, national significance and pairing of two recent major winners give it a profile that extends beyond the importance of a single pre-season match.

History and development

The competition was founded in 1908 as a replacement for the Sheriff of London Charity Shield. Its early form featured the champions of the professional and amateur games, reflecting the structure of English football at that time. As the sport became increasingly professional, the event developed into the modern meeting between the league champions and the FA Cup winners.

The name Charity Shield was later replaced by Community Shield, reflecting the competition’s continuing emphasis on community benefit and charitable distribution. The modern event remains governed by The FA and retains its traditional role as a national football occasion rather than a conventional tournament with a progression of rounds.

Trophy, status and records

The winner receives the historic silver shield and begins the new campaign as England’s champion of champions. For clubs, victory can provide an early psychological advantage, add to an official honours list and establish momentum before the Premier League begins. The result is significant, even though the Shield is not the same type of competition as the league, FA Cup or League Cup.

Manchester United hold the record for the most Community Shield wins, with 21 titles through the 2025 edition. Across its long history, the competition has continued to combine sporting prestige, Wembley tradition and charitable purpose. For statistical and historical reference, Community Shield remains one of the clearest annual links between the conclusion of one English season and the beginning of the next.