Learn more about the season's traditional curtain-raiser.
1. The FA Charity Shield was first contested in 1908, with Manchester United its first winners. It evolved from the ‘Sheriff of London Shield’, an annual match that was played between the top professional team and the top amateur team of the day.
2. The ‘Charity Shield’ became the ‘Community Shield’ in 2002. This year’s Shield fixture is the 89th in history.
3. Manchester United have featured in a record 27 Shields. They’ve won it outright 14 times, also a record, and shared it four times.
4. In 1993 United became the first team to lift The Shield after winning a penalty shootout. Prior to that, each team kept The Shield for six months if the match was drawn.
5.
United are the current holders of The Shield, having won 3-1 against Chelsea last August in front of more than 84,000 spectators.
6. Manchester City have appeared in seven Shields. They were winners in 1937, 1968 and 1972. In their last Shield appearance, in 1973, City lost 1-0 to Burnley at Maine Road.
7. City and United have only met once before in the 103-year history of The Shield. That match took place at Maine Road on 24 October 1956 – one of the first matches ever played under lights – and a crowd of more than 30,000 saw United’s Dennis Viollet score the only goal.
8. In ’56 United were League champions and City were FA Cup holders.
9. United’s Ryan Giggs has played in a record 13 Shield matches, winning eight times.
Rio Ferdinand has won it three times.
10. The Shield hasn’t always been contested by club sides. There were six matches between ‘The Professionals’ and ‘The Amateurs’, and the 1950 fixture at Stamford Bridge featured England’s World Cup team of that year and The FA team that toured Canada.
11. The Shield’s craziest goal came at Old Trafford in 1967. Pat Jennings, the Irish international goalkeeper, scored Spurs’ second goal in a 3-3 draw with Manchester United. Ball in hand, he punted it downfield. It bounced in front of United’s ‘keeper Alex Stepney, then over his head and into the net.
12. Wembley has been home to The Shield since 1974, when the tradition was established that the reigning League champions would play The FA Cup holders as a ‘curtain-raiser’ to the new season. Before that, a less prestigious Shield fixture was played at League grounds.
