By Wellington Jopelo
The 2026 Community Shield between Arsenal and Manchester City will be played in Cardiff after Wembley Stadium became unavailable because of The Weeknd’s “After Hours Til Dawn” tour.
The traditional curtain-raiser will take place at the Principality Stadium on Sunday, August 16, marking the competition’s return to the Welsh capital for the first time in 20 years.
The decision to move the match was caused by a scheduling clash, as Canadian music star The Weeknd is due to perform at Wembley on the same day the Community Shield was scheduled to take place.
The Arsenal-Manchester City showdown will therefore be staged away from Wembley, which has been the regular home of the fixture since 1974.
Cardiff is no stranger to hosting the Community Shield. The stadium, then known as the Millennium Stadium, staged the match for six consecutive years between 2001 and 2006 while Wembley was being rebuilt.
After Wembley reopened in 2007, the fixture largely returned to London, although there have been a few exceptions. Manchester City and Chelsea played at Villa Park in 2012 because London was hosting the Olympic Games.
Similarly, Manchester City and Liverpool met at the King Power Stadium in 2022 after Wembley was used for the final of the Women’s European Championship.
The 2026 clash will now become only the third Community Shield to be played away from Wembley since the stadium reopened.
For Arsenal and Manchester City, the change of venue will make little difference to the importance of the encounter, but for Cardiff, the return of one of English football’s traditional season-opening matches brings a major fixture back to the Principality Stadium after two decades.