Background
Arsenal qualified for the 2002 FA Community Shield as the holders of the FA Cup, beating Chelsea 2–0 in the 2002 FA Cup Final. The team four days later won the 2001–02 FA Premier League to complete the domestic double. Given Arsenal won both honours, the Charity Shield place went to league runners-up Liverpool, who secured second place on the final day of the season. This marked Arsenal's 15th Charity Shield appearance and first since 1999, where they beat Manchester United by two goals to one. By contrast this was Liverpool's 18th, who incidentally played United and won by exactly the same scoreline to become holders of the trophy. The last meeting between the two teams was in the FA Cup; a goal by Dennis Bergkamp ensured Arsenal progressed into the fifth round of the competition.
In spite of the game traditionally being taken as like a friendly, Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier used his pre-match press conference to highlight how much he wanted to win the shield: "It is very important to me. This match is more than a friendly. It represents the start of the season. The Community Shield is like a final. There is a trophy at stake and we are the holders." Arsène Wenger wanted to use the match as "the final preparation game for the championship" and noted that Liverpool, amongst four other teams (Manchester United, Newcastle United, Chelsea and Leeds United) would challenge his team in the league.
After 94 years, the trophy was renamed as the FA Community Shield in February 2002. The then FA marketing director Paul Barber noted this was in order to reward the work of those contributing to the game, who go unnoticed: "The most important thing is that the many good causes that have benefited from the shield in the past will continue to benefit from the Community Shield in the future." The FA also intended to prevent any interference made by the Charity Commission into where money raised by the game should go. In April 2002, McDonald's was announced as the main sponsor of the Community Shield, in a four-year, £28 million pound contract. The deal included the company making an "invest in 8,000 new community-based coaches for young players".
Read more about this topic: 2002 FA Community Shield
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