When the new season is just around the corner, the curtain must be raised on another campaign. As usual, the Community Shield takes centre stage in early August, with the winners of the Premier League and the FA Cup going head to head.
Formerly known as the Charity Shield, the fixture was originally a match between professionals and amateurs, before winners of the First Division and the Southern League faced off annually in the early 20th century. The format changed a lot over the coming years before the current setup of top-flight champions playing FA Cup winners was established in 1930.
However, Wembley has not always been the home of the fixture. It had hosted every final since 1974 until its rebuilding began in 2001, returning in 2007. Since then, Villa Park and Leicester City’s King Power Stadium have stepped in when the stadium was used for the London Olympics in 2012 and the Women’s European Championship in 2022.
But which games are the best in the fixture’s history? We’ve listed our favourites from over the years, based on the amount of drama and memorable moments in each match.
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Rank
Match
Year
Liverpool 1-1 Leeds
1974
Man City 2-3 Man Utd
2011
Leeds 4-3 Liverpool
1992
Arsenal 3-1 Man Utd
2004
Chelsea 2-2 Man Utd
2009
Arsenal 1-1 Man Utd
1993
Liverpool 3-1 Man City
2022
Arsenal 1-1 Man City
2023
Chelsea 1-3 Man Utd
2010
Chelsea 2-3 Man City
2012
Liverpool 1-1 Man City
2019
Liverpool 2-1 Chelsea
2006
12 Liverpool 2-1 Chelsea (2006) Riise’s long-ranger and Crouch header down the champions
After hurling themselves over the line in one of the greatest FA Cup finals in recent memory, Liverpool returned to Cardiff a few months later to defeat the champions and take home the Community Shield.
No stranger to a rocket or two, John Arne Riise let fly from range in the ninth minute to open the scoring. Chelsea equalised through a debut goal from Andriy Shevchenko which perhaps gave them some false hope over his promise in a Blues shirt, before Peter Crouch stooped to head in a winner with 11 minutes remaining. A perfect tonic ahead of another gruelling campaign.
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1 ByAlex Caple 11 Liverpool 1-1 Manchester City (2019) Classic game of two halves as City win on pens
For all their successes alongside Pep Guardiola, Manchester City have won just two Community Shields under his guidance. One of those victories came as the top two teams in the country locked horns in the season’s curtain-raiser, having just gone toe-to-toe in the Premier League.
City had edged Liverpool by 98 points to 97, and it seemed like there would be little to separate the teams ahead of the 2019/20 campaign.
The match itself saw Raheem Sterling open the scoring with his first goal against his former club, before Joel Matip equalised amid a Liverpool onslaught on the City goal. However, the highlight of the match was arguably Kyle Walker’s acrobatic goalline clearance to deny Mohamed Salah a winner.
City went on to win 5-4 on penalties, with Georginio Wijnaldum the only player to miss from the spot.
10 Chelsea 2-3 Manchester City (2012) Mancini’s men edge five-goal final at Villa Park
With Wembley Stadium being used for the Olympic Games in London, Villa Park was the venue for the Community Shield final in 2012. Manchester City had recently won their first Premier League title in dramatic circumstances, while Chelsea had just won the Champions League in similar fashion, having already bagged the FA Cup once again.
It was Roberto Mancini’s champions who prevailed following an entertaining game. Fernando Torres opened the scoring before Yaya Toure swept home a superb equaliser after the break. The Citizens showed their class by pulling away through goals from Carlos Tevez and Samir Nasri, with Ryan Bertrand nicking a consolation for the Blues.
9 Chelsea 1-3 Manchester United (2010) Double champs beaten as United start season in style
Carlo Ancelotti had enjoyed a fine first season at Stamford Bridge, but any idea they would coast to further glory in his second campaign werwasinously put to bed as Manchester United emerged from Wembley victorious in 2010.
Antonio Valencia was a goalscorer and creator for United’s first two goals – the second of which saw Javier Hernandez open his Red Devils account in somewhat trademark unorthodox fashion, heading in after inexplicably striking the ball onto his own face.
After Salomon Kalou had pulled one back, Dimitar Berbatov rounded off a superb afternoon’s football by expertly lobbing in a third at the death, as United went on to grab the league title from Chelsea come the end of the year.
8 Arsenal 1-1 Manchester City (2023) Gunners break City hoodoo with dramatic shootout victory
Arsenal headed into last season’s Community Shield final having only beaten City once under Mikel Arteta – fittingly enough, at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final in 2020.
So when Cole Palmer had put the treble winners in front late on, it looked as though the writing was on the wall. However, Leandro Trossard’s deflected last-gasp effort forced penalties, much to the delight of the Gunners faithful.
While Arsenal were able to land a blow at last with their win over City, their shootout victory was also a timely reminder the Gunners were by no means one-off also-rans in the previous season.
Arsenal were perfect from the spot, with Kevin De Bruyne and Rodri missing for the Citizens – Aaron Ramsdale saved from the latter. Fabio Vieira had the honour of netting a sumptuous winner.
7 Liverpool 3-1 Manchester City (2022) Nunez comes out on top over Haaland in Leicester
The Community Shield took to the Midlands once more in 2022 with Wembley hosting the final of the Women’s European Championship the following day, meaning Leicester City’s King Power Stadium had the honour of staging the debuts of Erling Haaland and Darwin Nunez.
They have had contrasting fortunes since then, but this game may have given a false impression of what was to come.
Liverpool took the lead through Trent Alexander-Arnold, with Julian Alvarez equalising in the 70th minute. A rather harsh penalty call gave Mohamed Salah the opportunity to put the Reds back in front late on – which he took – before Nunez grabbed a debut goal by stooping low to nod past Ederson in stoppage time.
Haaland, meanwhile, had a day to forget. There were some pretty awful misses from the Norwegian that easily could have had Pep Guardiola worrying that he’d bought a dud.
6 Arsenal 1-1 Manchester United (1993) Seaman misses penalty to hand shield to United
Before the Ferguson v Wenger rivalry reached its boiling point, there was still a degree of animosity between these two sides, who played out an entertaining curtain-raiser in 1993, with the Red Devils edging it on penalties.
Arsenal were double cup winners under George Graham amid a disappointing league campaign, with United recently crowned the inaugural Premier League champions.
The game itself saw two marvellous goals at a sun-drenched Wembley, with Mark Hughes’ acrobatic effort cancelled out by Ian Wright’s looping volley in the first half.
Penalties saw even more drama, with Wright missing the chance to win Arsenal the shield before Peter Schmeichel saved from David Seaman to give the league holders the upper hand heading into the campaign.
5 Chelsea 2-2 Manchester United (2009) Blues edge past stubborn United in dramatic encounter
Chelsea and Manchester United have had their fair share of Community Shield dates – at least one of them made the final on all but three occasions between 1993 and 2018. This particular meeting in 2009 saw the largest attendance since Wembley was rebuilt.
The game managed to live up to the billing, little more than a year on from their epic clash in the Champions League final in Moscow.
Nani gave United a half-time lead, but Chelsea turned things around through Ricardo Carvalho and Frank Lampard, who netted in slightly controversial circumstances with Patrice Evra down in Chelsea’s half, leaving plenty of space for the midfielder to squeeze a shot past Ben Foster and over the line.
There was still time for more chaos as Wayne Rooney grabbed an equaliser at the last, forcing penalties. Unfortunately for him, that effort was completely in vain as United could only convert one of their spot kicks, as Petr Cech saved rather poor efforts from Ryan Giggs and Evra.
Salomon Kalou got the winner as Carlo Ancelotti celebrated success in his first game as boss.
4 Arsenal 3-1 Manchester United (2004) Invincibles continue where they left off in Cardiff
With a golden Premier League trophy in the bag, there was no let-up as Arsenal faced FA Cup winners Manchester United at the Millennium Stadium in 2004.
The game was as frenetic as fans had become accustomed to in the league, and Arsene Wenger’s Gunners put on a dazzling show for their supporters. After a goalless first half, Gilberto Silva slammed in an opener before Alan Smith emphatically volleyed United level.
Arsenal weren’t level for long as Jose Antonio Reyes curled home three minutes later, with Ashley Cole causing a fairly comical own goal from Mikael Silvestre to assert the Gunners’ dominance.
United would get their own back of sorts in the classic ‘Battle of the Buffet’ clash at Old Trafford by ending Arsenal’s unbeaten run, while the north Londoners would leave the Red Devils empty-handed by beating them to the FA Cup in Cardiff once more on penalties.
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ByAlex Roberts 3 Leeds United 4-3 Liverpool (1992) Cantona hat-trick the difference in seven-goal thriller
While the Community Shield has often seen one-sided affairs or low-scoring matches, it is often worth the wait when a goal-fest comes around. This will have been the case in the 1992 final between Leeds United and Liverpool, which saw as many goals as the previous five games combined.
It was started by one Eric Cantona, whose hat-trick was the first in this fixture for 35 years. Ian Rush replied swiftly to the Frenchman’s opener, though Tony Dorigo’s deflected effort from a free kick gave the Whites a half-time advantage.
Dean Saunders grabbed Liverpool’s second equaliser after the break before a quickfire double from Cantona; the first a rasping effort through Bruce Grobbelaar, the second a simple header after the Zimbabwean goalkeeper failed to claim a cross.
Perhaps the most iconic goal of the afternoon came with Liverpool’s consolation, as Gordon Strachan was unable to stop Mark Wright’s effort from wriggling between his legs.