The Football Association Community Shield is an English association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of the FA Premier League and the winners of the FA Cup. It is equivalent to the Super Cups that is played in many countries. The Shield was first played for in 1908-09, replacing the Sheriff of London Charity Shield that had been introduced in 1898-99.
The match is contested at the beginning of the following season, and has traditionally been played at Wembley Stadium, although it was played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales while Wembley was being rebuilt. The newly built Wembley held the 2007 final for the first time since 2000. If a team wins The Double (both the Premiership and the FA Cup), then the Double winner plays the Premier League runner-up.
The Shield plays a major role for the FA in its efforts to raise funds for various charities throughout England. The sources for the funds include the net profits from admission tickets and sales of match day programmes. Parts of the fund are distributed to clubs who participated in the First Round Proper of the FA Cup, who are then in turn asked to nominate a charity or community-based organisation which will receive the clubs' share of the fund. The remainder of the funds will then be donated to The FA Charity Partners.
The most recent Community Shield was played on 5 August 2007, at Wembley Stadium between Manchester United and Chelsea with Manchester United winning 3-0 on penalties after the match ended 1-1.
The next Community Shield will be held on August 10, 2008, at Wembley Stadium between Manchester United and Portsmouth. This will be the first time since 1996 that a team outside of the Big Four will have competed in the competition.
Manchester United dominated the match and should have won in regulation time. Portsmouth could not maneuver much against the United defence. The game went into penalty kicks and United won it. Congrats to United for winning the FA Community Shield!
gopalpc
oLahav
chelseaFC
gopalpc
chelseaFC gopalpc gopalpc gopalpc
