For the first time in 20 years, the Community Shield is taking place outside England.
Arsenal and Manchester City will contest the domestic football season’s curtain-raiser at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on 16 August owing to a change in its recent traditions. Since its 2007 reopening, the Community Shield has been held almost exclusively at Wembley with the showpiece previously only relocated twice by scheduling conflicts around the 2012 Olympics and Women’s Euro final in 2022.
This time, however, it was music – not football – that led to the meeting between the Premier League champions and FA Cup holders being switched from its London home. A five-night run of The Weeknd’s ‘After Hours Til Dawn’ stadium tour means supporters from north and south of the country will instead converge on the Welsh capital rather than Wembley, which is a blessing in disguise as much as it is a novelty.
Community Shield relocation should start Wembley debate
Between 2001 and 2007, Cardiff was the de facto home of English football as it welcomed 44 showpiece occasions, from the FA Cup final to the EFL play-offs, as Wembley’s Twin Towers were dismantled and replaced. It was something of a quid pro quo arrangement after Wales’s rugby union team staged a Test match with New Zealand at Wembley in 1997 while Cardiff Arms Park underwent a transformation into what many would come to know, and love, as the Millennium Stadium.
St Mary Street became the new Olympic Way, only better. A ground located in the heart of a major city with all the amenities that any visiting fan could want, available within touching distance, offered the best of both worlds. It helped that the venue itself witnessed some iconic moments, such as Steven Gerrard’s piledriver in the 2006 FA Cup final between Liverpool and West Ham or Andy Campbell’s extra-time chip that sealed hometown glory for Cardiff City in the old Second Division Play-Off final in 2003. Returning to those familiar comforts, even fleetingly, only serves to highlight the ongoing disconnect that exists between club supporters and their national stadium.
A day out at Wembley should be the pinnacle of any team's season. The reality is that a trip to the supposed ‘Home of Football’ is one of joyless endeavour. Supporters face limited choices both beneath and bordering The Arch, not to mention the logistical nightmare of getting there in the first place. Prestige fixtures invariably coincide with some form of scheduled disruption, be it maintenance work or strike action, on the West Coast Mainline as well as the M6 motorway; making the journey an arduous task for rail and road users alike. Beyond travel turmoil, the attraction of a jaunt to the capital has worn increasingly thin. The Football Association’s insistence on hosting both legs of the FA Cup semi-final has relegated a one-time pilgrimage into a financial rigmarole with the need to fund two return journeys in the space of six weeks.
It’s little wonder that City fans were unable to pack out their allocation for April’s last-four win over Southampton – their 23rd appearance at Wembley in 10 seasons. Followers of Enzo Maresca’s side are no strangers to playing competitive fixtures in unfamiliar settings. Their team contested the 2012 Shield at Villa Park as well as facing Liverpool a decade later at Leicester’s King Power Stadium. In 2008, they also trekked to Barnsley for a ‘home’ game after their UEFA Cup qualifier with EB Streymur was held at Oakwell while the Etihad Stadium’s pitch was re-laid due to a Bon Jovi concert. Rival supporters widely ridiculed the large swathes of empty seats in their end against the Saints, but unprecedented success offers no insulation from a cost-of-living crisis.
Wembley excursions were reluctantly accepted by supporters of all denominations as the price they had to pay for The FA’s construction costs from the stadium’s £789m refit. Yet the past 18 months have effectively been pure profit for the regulatory body, which settled its debts in the final quarter of 2024. Any obligation to continue forcing the game’s lifeblood to service it has long been removed, and a serious debate now needs to be had about why it is still considered the default venue for non-finals when its appeal has long dwindled. Prior to 1974, the Community Shield was never even held there; played at no fewer than 10 club grounds that marked a who’s who of English football heritage. In 1966, an all-Merseyside meeting between Liverpool and Everton saw fans treated to a rare glimpse of the newly won World Cup as it was paraded at Goodison Park before kick-off by Roger Hunt and Ray Wilson, two of England’s heroes that were preparing to line up against each other that afternoon.
Club grounds again hosting the season's opener remains highly attainable with Old Trafford, St James’ Park, Elland Road and Villa Park all set to either undergo significant rebuilds or be replaced with future-proofed successors that would make them fitting alternative venues. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium are also worthy contenders with Euro 2028 and a likely Women’s World Cup in 2035 already on their respective agendas. So, too, is the stage for Sunday’s encounter, which takes place at the first venue to host a Champions League final ‘indoors’ after its roof was closed for the 2017 occasion. But why stop there?
FA Cup semi-finals could conceivably also be played away from Wembley’s former white elephant again, as they were as recently as 2006, while the opportunity to take England back out on the road has the potential to enhance the national team’s relationship with those who follow their fortunes from beyond the confines of the M25. Nottingham Forest’s City Ground most recently enjoyed the Three Lions’ company for an end-of-season friendly with Senegal last summer that made Thomas Tuchel’s side accessible to more than simply those covered by the jurisdiction of an Oyster card.
At a time when Andy Burnham is seeking to ‘rewire’ the wider UK’s relationship with its London-centric government, the new prime minister would doubtless approve of sparing football supporters the hassle of multiple trips south of Watford Junction. The staunch Evertonian, who recently pleaded with his beloved club to sign a right-back, is particularly well-versed on that commute after multiple visits in the past two decades.
Removing the hassle of needlessly venturing to a stadium whose commercial growth now outstrips its original stock in trade would be a win-win situation for all parties. Life exists beyond Wembley for major football events, as this weekend in Cardiff proves. It's time The FA moved with a changing landscape and embraced the idea of devolution.
