Why the 2022 Community Shield will be played at Leicester’s King Power Stadium
The 2022 Community Shield between Premier League champions Manchester City and FA Cup holders Liverpool will be held at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium on July 30.
English football’s traditional curtain-raiser has been moved from Wembley as the capital ground is set to host the Women’s Euro 2022 final the following day, with the date also being brought forward to accommodate the Premier League’s earlier start time.
Last year’s Community Shield, which saw Leicester City beat Manchester City 1-0, was staged on August 7. But with the Premier League starting on August 6 this year to facilitate the winter World Cup, the Community Shield has naturally been moved to late July.
This year will mark the 100th edition of the Community Shield and sees Liverpool, who beat Chelsea in the FA Cup final on penalties last month, take on Pep Guardiola’s Premier League champions, who avoided a final-day scare to secure the English title.
The last Community Shield to be played away from Wembley was Villa Park in 2012, as the national stadium was hosting the final of the 2012 Olympic football tournament on the same weekend, with Manchester City beating Chelsea 3-2 in the Midlands.
We are pleased to confirm that the FA Community Shield will be played at @LCFC's King Power Stadium on Saturday 30 July 2022, between @LFC and @ManCity 🏆
For more information, click the link below 👇
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) June 1, 2022
Before that, the Millennium Stadium hosted the Community Shield between 2001 and 2006 while the new Wembley was under construction, then you’d have to go back to pre-1974 when the one-off fixture was hosted by one of the sides competing — the last one being City against Burnley at Maine Road in 1973.
Both Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium and West Ham’s London Stadium reportedly showed interest in hosting the Community Shield and keeping the annual showpiece in the capital, but their proposals ultimately fell on deaf ears.
It will come as a welcome move for both Liverpool and City fans, who endured travel difficulties to London for April’s FA Cup semi-finals, with there being clamour at the time for their penultimate showdown to be moved further north.
