The Football Association has moved the kick-off time for the Community Shield after fans complained about “inconvenient scheduling”.
Manchester City will play Arsenal in the traditional season-opening game at Wembley.
Initial plans for a 17:30 BST start on 6 August were met with frustration from City fans over concerns about travel on public transport.
The game will now kick off at 16:00 BST on the same day.
City fan group WeAre1894 had called on supporters to boycott the match because of the “significant travel challenges”.
Some supporters had even begun to make donations to a local foodbank instead of spending money on a match ticket.
A Manchester City spokesperson said: “Having contacted the FA to express our reservations and clarify why the kick-off time of 17.30 BST on a Sunday was originally chosen, we are pleased that the decision to bring forward kick-off has now been made.
“Whilst we understand that this will not fully alleviate travel issues for our fans and our preference would have been for an earlier kick-off time still, we hope that the new kick-off time will make a difference.”
Credit: bbc.com
