Sunday sees the first game at Wembley Stadium for the 2025-26 season when the FA Community Shield pits the 2025 Emirates FA Cup winners Crystal Palace against Premier League champions Liverpool.
Traditionally hailed as the 'curtain raiser' for the new season, with the first Premier League fixtures taking place the following weekend, the game also sees a number of beneficiaries across the country with all proceeds from the day put back into community initiatives.
Why is the Community Shield called the Community Shield?
Proceeds from the match go towards community initiatives and charities in the London Borough of Brent and around the country. Communities across England are supported through football projects run by EFL in the Community; funding is provided to the FA’s official charity partner, Alzheimer’s Society; as well as to community projects based in Brent.
The Wembley Community Club
The Wembley Community Club is our way of giving back to community organisations in Brent by celebrating and supporting not-for-profit charities, schools, and community groups. The club is free to join for eligible groups across Brent and the local area, and since the launch of the Wembley Community Club last season we’ve had nearly 190 organisations join our programme.
We invite all community groups in Brent to join the Wembley Community Club and take advantage of these fantastic opportunities. More information can be found here.
Matchday Donations
At every event at Wembley, including the Community Shield, one per cent of event-day revenue is given to the Wembley Stadium Foundation (independent of Wembley Stadium), which invests in community projects that use sport, movement and culture to remove barriers to access and create opportunities. Since its creation, the Foundation has awarded over £5 million in grants across England, including £3 million in Brent - supporting everything from grassroots football to the performing arts. Recent initiatives include a national Kit Giveaway providing thousands of free kits to grassroots teams, and a partnership with Brent Council to launch the Love Where You Live Fund, supporting local organisations and residents through a dedicated community grants programme.
Wembley Stadium’s Memory Café with The Alzheimer's Society
We recently launched our Memory Café at Wembley Stadium as part of our charity partnership with Alzheimer’s Society. Every Wednesday, sessions are run by the charity, with additional support from our employee volunteers, offering an opportunity for local people to share their dementia experiences, get involved in roundtable discussions, meet guest speakers and take part in different activities each week. The café is open to anyone affected by dementia, as well as those with mild cognitive impairment or concerns about their memory, and provides tailored, culturally appropriate services suitable for the diverse community in the Brent area.
Visitors to the Memory Cafe at Wembleyt were treated to a visit from former England player Stuart Pearce earlier this year
Dementia support is also available in the local communities of both clubs participating in this year's FA Community Shield.
Alzheimer’s Society’s Singing for the Brain group in Croydon provides a friendly and social environment for people affected by dementia to meet others and sing a wide variety of familiar and new songs. In Liverpool, Alzheimer’s Society’s community-based Dementia Advisers provide tailored practical advice and emotional support to those affected by dementia, including help with navigating the process of finding local support and services. This has been made possible thanks to funding from Liverpool FC Foundation and Forever Reds. For personalised information on local services available to you, please call Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Support Line on 0333 150 3456.
Brent Giving
This year we have launched ‘Brent Giving’, in partnership with the Social Change Nest, Quintain and other Brent organisations, to raise funds for the community; with the community of Brent itself deciding which programmes and organisations to fund. The partnership is aiming to deliver at least £50,000 of grants to the community in the next year.
The Felix Project
A London-based food distribution charity that rescues surplus food from restaurants, supermarkets and other large scale food wholesalers and delivers it to over 1,200 community organisations and charities across London, supporting an estimated 500,000 people a week. The organisations they support include homeless shelters, care homes, women’s refuges, community centres, foodbanks, youth clubs, schools and holiday programmes, all selected to ensure they are helping the most disadvantaged London communities.
Through our £25,000 donation from the Community Shield Fund, we were able to help The Felix Project provide 65,000 meals to the people of Brent. Nearly 50 staff volunteered at the local depot to the Stadium, spending over 300 hours, which equates to a total of nearly 60,000 meals being moved – totalling an impact of 124,000 meals from the FA in 2024-25. We will continue to support The Felix Project next year through donations, volunteering at their new depot, and being involved in some of their other projects.