Which teams qualify to play in the Community Shield? 2026 sees Arsenal vs Manchester City clash in Cardiff

You know the new Premier League season is just around the corner when the Community Shield suddenly appears on your soccer scores app of choice.

On Sunday, Arsenal and Manchester City will meet at Cardiff's Principality Stadium for the traditional curtain-raiser to the English soccer season. And yes, Cardiff. Wembley is unavailable this year, so the Community Shield is making a trip across the Welsh border before the serious business of the EPL gets underway.

But why Arsenal and City? And how much does winning the thing actually matter?

Why are Arsenal and Manchester City playing in the Community Shield?

The answer comes from what happened last season.

The Community Shield traditionally brings together the reigning Premier League champions and FA Cup winners, which explains Sunday's lineup.

Arsenal booked their place by winning the 2025/26 Premier League title, while Manchester City qualified through their success in the FA Cup.

As you may have already pondered, if one club wins both competitions, things work slightly differently. Rather than asking them to play themselves - I actually think that could be fun - the Premier League runners-up take the second spot.

That was the case in 2023, for example, when Manchester City arrived having won both the Premier League and FA Cup as part of their treble. League runners-up Arsenal therefore faced them in the Community Shield and won on penalties.

This year requires no such workaround. One league champion, one cup winner and one trophy to fight over. And according to the book makers, these are the top two teams in the country.

How important is the Community Shield?

My choice of words "fight over" might be stretching things slightly.

While the Community Shield is technically the first trophy of the English season, few in England consider it a major honor. Perhaps the clearest indication of its historically relaxed status is that the trophy used to be shared if the game finished level, which happened 10 times between 1949 and 1991.

The first penalty shootout to decide the winner was held in 1993. Since then, the Shield has at least produced an undisputed champion every year.

Whether anyone counts that championship when discussing a club's trophy haul is another matter. It always feels a little desperate.

That, of course, raises the question: what actually is a major trophy?

There is no official definition. It generally comes down to where a competition sits on a club's priority list and, rather less scientifically, whether winning it actually feels important.

Super Cups elsewhere in Europe are also considerably less prestigious than league titles or domestic and European cups. Yet the Community Shield's "glorified friendly" reputation is particularly difficult to shake.

Lose it and it was preseason. Win it and suddenly there are medals, celebrations and a perfectly respectable trophy for the cabinet. That said, the stats suggest it's better to lose.

Guardiola and Klopp struggled to understand the Community Shield's status

That peculiarly English attitude has confused some of the Premier League's most successful foreign coaches.

Ahead of the 2019 Community Shield, Pep Guardiola compared the English attitude with his experiences in Spain and Germany, where the equivalent Super Cup is treated as a competitive trophy.

"In Spain and Germany it's important," Guardiola said. "Why play if it doesn't count? We could have longer holidays."

A year later, Jürgen Klopp was similarly baffled.

"It's a final," the former Liverpool coach said, questioning why English soccer insisted on describing the game primarily as a "curtain-raiser."

And that contradiction remains part of the Community Shield's charm.

It doesn't really matter. Unless you win it. And even then...

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