FA Community Shield

The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is an English association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of the FA Premier League and the winners of the FA Cup. If a team wins The Double (both the Premiership and the FA Cup), then the Double winner plays the Premier League runner-up. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and has traditionally been played at Wembley Stadium; although for the past few seasons, it has been played at the Millennium Stadium while Wembley is being rebuilt.

Related Topics:
English - Association football - FA Premier League - FA Cup - The Double - Wembley Stadium - Millennium Stadium

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The Shield was first played for in 1908-1909, replacing the Sheriff of London Charity Shield that had been introduced in 1898-99 (though the Sheriff of London Charity Shield did reappear later on two separate occassions along side the Charity Shield). It continued the professionals versus amateurs basis of the earlier cup (the gentlemen and players tradition). The first match was between Manchester United (professionals) and Queens Park Rangers (amateurs). The competition was not highly regarded, the games were informal, end-of-season clashes with both teams often assembled just for the game.

Related Topics:
1908-1909 - Sheriff of London Charity Shield - 1898-99 - Manchester United - Queens Park Rangers

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As time progressed, the professionals versus amateurs basis was dropped, and the competition format gradually evolved to normally be between the winners of the Football League and the FA Cup. There were often exceptions to this, however, such as the 1950 Shield, which involved the England World Cup team against an FA team that had toured Canada that summer.

Related Topics:
Football League - 1950 - England - World Cup - Canada

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The date of the game was moved to the start of the season in 1959, and in 1974 then FA secretary, Ted Croker, created the current format with the match always being played between the League and FA Cup winners at the national stadium and the monies raised at the gate going to charity. The game is decided on the day with extra-time and a penalty shoot-out if the scores are level, though between 1975 and 1993 the Shield was shared if the game was drawn.

Related Topics:
1959 - 1974 - FA - Ted Croker - Penalty shoot-out - 1975 - 1993

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With the formation a new top league, the FA Premier League, the Shield became a match between the Premier League and FA Cup winners from the 1993 competition onwards.

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The competition was renamed the Community Shield in 2002. A small scandal surrounding questionable distribution of monies raised for charities by the match led to a renaming of the match as part of a reform of the competition.

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The most successful team in the competition are Manchester United, winners on fifteen occasions (including shares). The highest scoring game was Manchester United's 8-4 win against Swindon Town in 1911.

Related Topics:
Swindon Town - 1911

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