Manchester City will begin the 2022/23 season by playing in the Community Shield, the fourth time in five years they will take part in the traditional curtain-raiser.
Pep Guardiola's Premier League champions will meet FA Cup winners Liverpool in a re-run of the 2019 fixture, which saw City triumph on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
The showpiece fixture - traditionally held at Wembley - offers City the chance to secure a piece of silverware early doors in-front of tens of thousands of supporters, who get to enjoy a summer day out before the season has properly begun.
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However, that won't be the case this season. With the Premier League season starting a week earlier in order to accommodate the winter World Cup break, the Community Shield will take place on Saturday July 30 at 17:00. With Wembley set to host the final of the Women's European Championship that weekend, the Football Association has decided to stage the game at Leicester's 32,000 capacity King Power Stadium.
The downsize in venue means it's unlikely more than 10,000 City fans will be able to attend, a drastic fall from the 26,000 allocation the Blues had for last summer's Community Shield defeat to Leicester.
While it makes sense to stage the game closer to the region where both teams are from - although Leicester is arguably harder to reach from the North West by train than London - many can't understand why a bigger venue has not been chosen.
It's likely that Villa Park was not considered due to the Commonwealth Games taking place in Birmingham at the same time, but northern venues such as Old Trafford and St James' Park, or even those in London like the London Stadium and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, would have allowed more fans to attend.
It appears that the FA have not learned from the organisational fiasco of the FA Cup semi-final between City and Liverpool back in April, when the date of the game coincided with pre-planned maintenance work on the West Coast mainline between the North West and London.
While the Community Shield is far from the most important game of the season, it's an enjoyable curtain-raiser that many Blues will miss out on this summer.
@LizTray: This is bonkers. Why on earth is it there? Could easily have been at OT, why not? Someone should play some good football there...
@KJ_Fooz: If they wanted it away from the North West for neutral purposes. There’s so many bigger and more accessible options.
@prosperbartha: Tottenham Hotspurs stadium could make sense even old Trafford but King power stadium mmh.
@skybluesuzie: It doesn’t make any sense having it there, it’s not big enough at just over 32,000 when you consider how many seats go to corporate etc.
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