Community Shield Winners List: Man Utd Lead With 21 Titles, Arsenal Trail With 17
Manchester United remain the most successful club in the history of the FA Community Shield, having won English football’s traditional season curtain-raiser a record 21 times since the competition’s founding in 1908, according to the all-time honours list.
The Red Devils became the first-ever winners of the trophy, then known as the Charity Shield, after a replay victory over Queens Park Rangers in the inaugural 1908 edition. Their tally, built up over more than a century, includes 17 outright wins and four shared titles, with their most recent triumph coming in 2016 under then-manager Jose Mourinho, when they beat Leicester City.
Arsenal sit second on the all-time list with 17 Community Shield triumphs, comprising 16 outright wins and one shared title. Liverpool complete the podium in third place with 16 total wins. Everton follow in fourth place with nine titles, while Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City are tied in fifth place with seven titles apiece. Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers share sixth spot with four titles each.
The Community Shield is contested annually between the reigning Premier League champions and the FA Cup winners from the previous season. In instances where a single club wins both competitions in the same season, the Premier League runners-up take their place in the fixture instead.
Manchester United’s dominant record was built largely during Sir Alex Ferguson’s era of Premier League supremacy, when the club regularly claimed both major domestic trophies and, by extension, frequent Community Shield appearances and victories. Since Ferguson’s departure, however, United’s Community Shield success has slowed considerably, with their 2016 win under Mourinho remaining their most recent addition to the tally.
Arsenal, by contrast, have continued to add to their total in recent years and now have a genuine opportunity to close the gap on United. The north London club face Manchester City on Sunday, August 16, 2026, at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium in the 2026 edition of the Community Shield, having secured the Premier League title last season. A win would move Arsenal to 18 total titles, further narrowing the gap at the top of the all-time standings, though they would still remain some way behind United’s record.
Manchester City, for their part, will be chasing an eighth Community Shield success after lifting the FA Cup last season with victory over Chelsea at Wembley. City’s recent record against Arsenal has been strong, having beaten the Gunners in both the EFL Cup final in March 2026 and in Premier League action in April 2026. However, Arsenal hold the historical edge in Community Shield meetings between the two sides, having beaten City on penalties in the 2023 edition after a 1-1 draw in normal time.
Beyond the traditional powerhouses, several other English clubs have tasted Community Shield success over the years, including Newcastle United, Brighton & Hove Albion, Blackburn Rovers, Huddersfield Town, Cardiff City, Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Bolton Wanderers, Derby County, Nottingham Forest, and Portsmouth, with West Ham United and Aston Villa among the clubs that have shared the trophy in past editions.
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