English football’s traditional curtain-raiser for the 2013-14 season sees Premier League champions Manchester United take on FA Cup winners Wigan Athletic, exclusively live on ITV.
As well as marking the Football Association’s 150th anniversary, the 2013 Community Shield is also a history making day on many fronts, including David Moyes taking charge of his first competitive match as Manchester United manager.
Moyes succeeds the incomporable Sir Alex Ferguson as the club’s manager and will be looking to lead the club to a third triumph in this fixture in the last four years.
Wigan will appear in their first ever Community Shield match following their 1-0 cup final win over Manchester City back in May.
With the Latics having been relegated to the Championship last season they will enter this match as huge underdogs, despite Owen Coyle taking the helm over the summer months and making several additions to the squad.
Last year’s Community Shield fixture – won by Manchester City – was moved to Villa Park due to the London 2012 Olympics taking place in the capital throughout August so this game marks its return to Wembley.
This year’s match will also make history as the first fixture in England to use goal line technology.
Hailed as one of the most important developments in the 150 years since football rules were laid down, the Hawk-Eye system uses 14 cameras and will send a signal with the space of a second to the referee’s watch and ear-piece indicating that the ball has crossed the line.
Referee Mark Clattenburg will take charge of the match. It will be the fourth time that the Durham official has been in the middle at Wembley Stadium having first refereed the League Cup Final between Liverpool and Cardiff City in 2012.
“You have to go all the way back to 1985 for the last time that Manchester United played in this fixture without Sir Alex Ferguson on the touchline so the eyes of the world will be on the Community Shield and Wembley when David Moyes leads them out in August,” said FA general secretary Alex Horne.
“Wigan Athletic provided a fairytale ending to this season’s FA Cup final, which was fitting in our 150th anniversary year, and it will be great to welcome them back to Wembley as they take on the double challenge of Europa League football and the Championship.”
Money raised from the Community Shield is distributed by the FA to charities nominated by all the clubs who played in the first round proper of the FA Cup onwards from the previous season.
ITV will broadcast exclusive coverage of the FA Community Shield as its bumper line-up of live free-to-air football during the 2013-14 season begins.
Adrian Chiles presents the action from Wembley. Joining him in the studio for expert analysis will be Lee Dixon, Roy Keane and Gareth Southgate.
Match commentary comes from Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend, while Gabriel Clarke will conduct the interviews with key players and both managers.
In addition to its live coverage of the match, ITV will also screen a one-hour highlights show in the evening, presented by Adrian Chiles.
ITV’s football website – itv.com/football – will have live streaming of the entire game, plus additional news, features, videos and live updates from Wembley.
This will be the last time that the FA Community Shield is shown live on ITV – and on terrestrial television – for the forseeable future as BT Sport takes over the rights from next season as a result of its four-year shared deal for live FA Cup games with the BBC.
Sunday 11th August
FA Community Shield: Manchester United v Wigan Athletic
Kick-off: 14:00 | Wembley Stadium
LIVE: 1.30pm-4.15pm ITV Highlights: 10.15pm-11.15pm ITV
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