1994 FA Charity Shield debut just weeks after joining them from Blackburn. Denis Irwin and Roy Keane were absent after being given an extended break after playing for the Republic of Ireland in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. 1994 FA Charity Shield The 1994 FA Charity Shield was the 72nd FA Charity Shield, an annual football match played between the winners of the previous season's Premier League and FA Cup competitions. The match was played on 14 August 1994 at Wembley Stadium and contested by Manchester United, who had won the league and cup Double in 1993–94, and Blackburn Rovers, who had finished as
2008 FA Cup Final 1927 and Portsmouth in 1939. Had Cardiff won, they would have been the first club from outside the top division of English football to have won the competition since West Ham United in 1980. The match had an attendance of 89,874, a record which still stands as the largest ever for an FA Cup Final at the new Wembley Stadium. For winning the competition, Portsmouth received £1 million in prize money, as well as qualification to the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, their first foray into European football. It was suggested prior to the game that Cardiff City would not have been