This year’s Community Shield will be played at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, the Football Association has announced.
The match between the Premier League champions and FA Cup winners is traditionally played at Wembley, but the FA said it was unavailable on August 15 and 16 due to pre-planned concerts.
The Weeknd is playing five dates at the stadium between August 14 and 19.
The Principality Stadium hosted six Community Shields between 2001 and 2006 while the new-look Wembley was under construction.
It will also be the host venue for the opening match of Euro 2028, which is being co-hosted by England, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Since returning to Wembley in 2007, the Community Shield has moved twice – to Villa Park in 2012 due to the Olympics and the King Power Stadium in 2022 as the national stadium hosted the Women’s European Championship final.
Crystal Palace won the Community Shield back in August 2025 – this year it will be in Cardiff
Announcing the news in a statement on Monday, the Football Association said: ‘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.
‘Further details about the 2026 FA Community Shield, which sees the winner of the Emirates FA Cup take on the Premier League champions, will be announced at the earliest possible opportunity following the conclusion of the 2025-26 football season.’
As it stands, Arsenal, who lost the Carabao Cup final to Manchester City on Sunday, are the favourites to lift the Premier League trophy at the end of the season, having carved out a nine-point lead over Pep Guardiola’s side.
Should the Gunners succeed in their title charge, they would join either Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Port Vale, Southampton, West Ham or Leeds United at the Principality for next season’s Community Shield curtain-raiser, with these seven teams having reached the FA Cup quarter-finals alongside Arsenal.
In the event of Arsenal winning both the title and the FA Cup, next season’s Community Shield would be played between themselves and the runners-up in the Premier League.
There is a good chance the Community Shield, which will be played on August 16 in the build-up to the 2026-27 Premier League curtain-raiser, will be a repeat of Sunday’s Carabao Cup clash between Arsenal and City, who triumphed 2-0 thanks to a quickfire double from England full-back Nico O’Reilly.
More to follow.
