* Man City have qualified for the 2026 FA Community Shield after winning FA Cup final vs Chelsea
* City will face Arsenal at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Sunday 16 August
* Arsenal will play in the fixture regardless of Premier League title race outcome
**Manchester City have booked their place in the 2026 FA Community Shield against Chelsea after beating Chelsea in Saturday’s FA Cup final.**
The Blues face **Arsenal** at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Sunday 16 August 2026 – a rematch of one of the most compelling rivalries in the **Premier League** this season, which has gone to the final week of the campaign, with the title still to be decided.
Notably, the fixture will pit **Manchester City** against Arsenal regardless of the outcome of the final two matchdays of the league campaign as **Pep Guardiola** and co retain slim hopes of building on their cup double and usurping the Gunners to yet another Premier League crown.
> [Five Things Learned: Chelsea 0-1 Manchester City (FA Cup Final)](https://cityxtra.co.uk/46541/five-things-learned-chelsea-0-1-manchester-city-fa-cup-final/)
Manchester City’s [**FA Cup** final victory](https://cityxtra.co.uk/46543/match-report-player-ratings-chelsea-0-1-manchester-city-fa-cup-final/) over Chelsea means they will enter the Community Shield as the cup holders, with Arsenal confirmed as their opponents by virtue of their status as Premier League champions or runners-up.
The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff serves as the venue for the 2026 edition of the fixture – a change from the traditional Wembley setting that adds a further novelty to what promises to be an eagerly anticipated curtain-raiser to the 2026-27 campaign.
The Community Shield fixture will arrive just weeks after the conclusion of a Premier League season that has been defined by the two clubs’ pursuit of each other.
City have pushed Arsenal to the final lap of a monumental title race following a remarkable second half of the season that yielded the **Carabao Cup** and FA Cup crowns – as well as a title race that has gone to the wire and could yet see the Blues earn a ninth Premier League trophy.
Guardiola has praised Arsenal’s consistency throughout the campaign on multiple occasions, while the two sides have met in the Carabao Cup final, a Premier League showdown at the Etihad Stadium and traded blows across one of the most compelling top-flight title races in recent memory. In August, in Cardiff, they will do it all over again.