Community Shield forced to move to another stadium with Wembley unavailable

For the first time in 20 years, the Community Shield will be played in Wales, with Wembley Stadium unavailable to host the game.

The fixture between the Premier League champions and FA Cup winners is going to be held at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium this year.

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The change of venue was confirmed by the Football Association on Monday.

And they explained that due to an early start to the Premier League season next term, it has led to complications with the venue.

The FA wrote: “The ‘curtain raiser’ for the new football season is traditionally played on the weekend before the Premier League begins.

“Due to alterations to the 2026/27 football calendar, next season’s Premier League will begin over the weekend of Saturday 22 August, and Wembley Stadium connected by EE is unavailable on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 August due to pre-planned concerts.”

Four-time Grammy winner The Weeknd is touring in the UK in August and two of his Wembley shows fall on that weekend forcing the Community Shield venue to be changed.

And the Principality Stadium has been selected, with the FA explaining: “The Welsh national stadium has a rich history of hosting major football events, including the FA Community Shield on six occasions between 2001 and 2006, and it provides a neutral venue for the competing clubs as well as one of the largest capacities in the United Kingdom for fans to attend.”

The FA also added that further details around the Community Shield will be revealed following the end of the season.

Wembley Stadium usually welcomes 90,000 fans for the game between the Premier League champions and FA Cup winners.

But the capacity for the match will drop at the Principality Stadium this year, with 74,500 seats filling the ground in Cardiff.

It will be the first time since 2006 that the Community Shield has been held in Wales.

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But it won’t be the first time since then that the game has been played away from Wembley since the new version of the ground opened in 2007.

In 2012, it was hosted at Aston Villa‘s Villa Park before Leicester City‘s King Power Stadium played host in 2022.

Who won the 2025 Community Shield?

Crystal Palace won last year’s Community Shield against Liverpool after making history by winning the FA Cup.

The Eagles beat the Reds 3-2 on penalties at Wembley after playing out a 2-2 draw in normal time.

Jean-Philippe Mateta and Ismaila Sarr scored for Palace in the draw, with Hugo Ekitike and Jeremie Frimpong netting for Liverpool.

Before Palace’s victory, only five other teams had won the Community Shield over the last decade.

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Manchester City took home the trophy in 2024, 2019 and 2018.

Meanwhile, Arsenal, who missed out on the Carabao Cup to Man City on Sunday, succeeded in 2023, 2020, 2017 and 2015.

Liverpool and Leicester have also lifted the Community Shield in recent years to join the group of past winners.