Tens of thousands of fans descended on the Principality Stadium on Sunday as Arsenal beat Manchester City 3-0 in the FA Community Shield, Cardiff's first hosting of the event in 20 years. While supporters raved about the city as a matchday venue, many complained about severe traffic congestion and train disruptions.
Arsenal cruise to victory in Cardiff
The reigning Premier League champions outperformed a poor City side in the capital. Riccardo Calafiori opened the scoring after just 24 seconds, the fastest goal in the annual fixture's history, before Kai Havertz headed in shortly before the half-hour mark. Gunners captain Martin Odegaard then struck minutes into the second half to wrap up a convincing 3-0 win for Mikel Arteta's side.
Over 58,000 fans piled into the Principality Stadium for the showdown between the league champions and last year's FA Cup winners. The streets and pubs of Cardiff were bustling with supporters singing and chanting prior to kick-off.
Fans call for more matches in Cardiff
In the wake of the match, attending fans had the same comments about the city, which is also hosting the opening game of Euro 2028 in less than two years' time. In terms of matchday atmosphere, Cardiff proved an overwhelming success, with supporters calling for the Community Shield and other top English cup matches to be permanently relocated to Wales.
"Keep the Charity Shield at Cardiff, or put the two FA Cup semi-finals there," wrote one fan on X. "There's now a generation of football fans who don't realise how much better than Wembley it is."
"Unpopular opinion… Cardiff is a miles better venue for a final than Wembley," added another, while a third asked: "Should we be making Cardiff the norm now? City centre, bars all around, cracking stadium."
Another added: "First time at the Principality Stadium and must say prefer that place to Wembley. Even the surrounding areas and pubs were much better. Right by train station too." "Cardiff and the Principality is soooo much better than Wembley," said another. "Great place."
Travel chaos mars the experience
However, travelling fans also admitted that for all the enjoyment they had in Cardiff, getting in and out of the city proved a nightmare. "Just got home from Cardiff," wrote one. "That drive was vile. Never known a capital city struggle to cope with the congestion of a major sporting event like it."
"Cardiff, was nice to go back," added another supporter who travelled by road. "Went 9 times previously to watch Arsenal, but today brought back the pain of the M4 motorway between the Severn Bridge and Cardiff. Absolute disaster of a stretch of road."
A third wrote: "150 miles, should take just over two hrs, took over five hours by car. No thanks. There were no accidents, the road layouts just can't cope with the volume of traffic." "Has always been the same. Arsenal played there 10 times & I couldn't see the back off Cardiff soon enough."
Those travelling by train did not appear to fare much better, with one writing: "Trains into Cardiff were horrendous, many cancelled and we were cattled for two hours." "Trains were a complete joke," said another, while a third added: "Trains weren't any better. Never again should any decent game be played there, they just can't cope."
