The 2026 Community Shield will be played at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, not at London's Wembley Stadium, for the first time since 2007. The move was prompted by the concert schedule of Canadian singer The Weeknd, whose performances effectively displaced Arsenal and Manchester City from their usual venue, according to infohub.kz.
ESPN reports that The Weeknd is playing a five-show run at Wembley as part of his After Hours Til Dawn tour. As early as March, it was known that one of the concerts would clash with the Community Shield date. Organizers ultimately decided to relocate the match to Cardiff.
Hot Freestyle notes the move is particularly notable because Wembley has been the traditional home of the Community Shield since the rebuilt stadium opened in 2007, with only a few exceptions. The opening night of The Weeknd's Wembley residency drew nearly 90,000 fans.
Due to the scheduling conflict, Arsenal and Manchester City had to travel to Cardiff. The Principality Stadium is a major sports venue in the Welsh capital, where the match took place.
The game ended in a convincing 3-0 victory for Arsenal. Riccardo Calafiori opened the scoring after just 23 seconds. According to OneFootball, this was the first goal scored within the first minute of a Community Shield match since 1968 and the fastest goal in the competition's history.
Arsenal added two more goals in the second half, with Kai Havertz scoring in the 28th minute and Martin Odegaard in the 48th.
In the end, Arsenal lifted the Community Shield, while Manchester City had to concede not only the trophy but also their usual venue, Wembley.