Manchester City prepare to face Arsenal at Wembley Stadium for the first piece of silverware of the 2023/24 season as they compete for the Community Shield.
The fixture returns to London after it was hosted at the King Power Stadium in Leicester last season. This was due to Women’s 2022 European Championship final being played at Wembley the following day.
Liverpool won the match 3-1 last year against Man City thanks to goals from Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah, and Darwin Nunez. Erling Haaland missed an easy chance in that, but it is fair to say he made up for it later in the season.
The Sporting News looks at why the match is called the FA Community Shield after a name change over 20 years ago.
MORE: Arsenal new signings for 2023/24 season
What is the Community Shield?
The Community Shield is the annual match played a week ahead of the start of the Premier League season.
It is contested by the winner of the Premier League and the winner of the FA Cup. In other countries, it is usually called the ‘Super Cup’.
In scenarios where the same team wins both Premier League and FA Cup competitions, like Man City did last year, the team that finishes second in the Premier League takes part in the season opener (Arsenal in 2023).
Manchester United are the most successful team to have taken part in the match, lifting the shield on 21 different occasions.
Why is it called the Community Shield?
The Community Shield was founded in 1908 when it replaced the Sheriff of London Charity Shield. It was also called the ‘Charity Shield’ when it was first implemented 115 years ago.
in 2002, the English FA were forced to change the name of the competition to the Community Shield for legal reasons. The Charity Commission found out that the FA failed to meet its legal obligations under charity law because they did not specify what money from ticket sales went to charity.
Despite the change of name, the Community Shield still raises money for charity and the English FA distributes funds to community-based initiatives all over the country.
MORE: When does the 2023 summer transfer window close?
When is the Community Shield 2023?
Arsenal take on Man City on Sunday, August 6 at Wembley Stadium in London, with kickoff at 4 p.m. local time.
Here’s how that translates across time zones around the world’s major territories.
| Date | Kickoff time | TV channel | Live stream | |
| USA | Sun, Aug. 6 | 11 a.m. ET | — | ESPN+ |
| Canada | Sun, Aug. 6 | 11 a.m. ET | Sportsnet | Sportsnet Now |
| UK | Sun, Aug. 6 | 4 p.m. GMT | ITV 1, STV Scotland | ITVX, STV Player |
| Australia | Mon, Aug. 7 | 1 a.m. AEST | — | Paramount+ |
| India | Sun, Aug. 6 | 8:30 p.m. IST | Sony TEN 2 | JioTV, Sony LIV |
| Hong Kong | Sun, Aug. 6 | 11 p.m. HKT | — | M Plus Live |
| Malaysia | Sun, Aug. 6 | 11 p.m. MYT | Astro Supersport 4 | Astro Go, sooka |
| Singapore | Sun, Aug. 6 | 11 p.m. SGT | mio Sports 1 | meWatch |
| New Zealand | Mon, Aug. 7 | 3 a.m. NZST | — | — |