Arsenal stand among England’s most consistently successful clubs across more than a century of top-flight football.
Their record rests on a deep FA Cup tradition, multiple First Division and Premier League titles, and periods of sustained excellence that include the Invincibles of 2003/04.
Manchester City’s trajectory has been different. After decades of more modest returns, the club rose sharply from the late 2000s onward and, under Pep Guardiola, became one of the dominant forces of the modern Premier League era, adding European and world titles.
Trophy comparisons between the two clubs remain interesting precisely because their peaks have occurred in different eras. Arsenal’s strength lies in historical volume and the FA Cup.
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City’s recent haul is concentrated in league titles, the League Cup, and the biggest European prize. Different websites sometimes produce different totals because they treat the Community Shield, shared honours, and the European Fairs Cup inconsistently.
This article uses a clear methodology. It counts only official senior men’s first-team trophies in the following categories: top-flight league titles, FA Cup, League Cup, Community Shield/Charity Shield, European Cup/Champions League, UEFA Cup/Europa League, European Cup Winners’ Cup, UEFA Super Cup, European Fairs Cup, Intercontinental Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup.
Friendly, pre-season, youth, women’s, reserve, and individual awards are excluded.
The European Fairs Cup is included as a historical European honour won by Arsenal but is clearly identified as a non-UEFA competition that preceded the UEFA Cup.
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Community Shield figures follow each club’s listed record, with shared honours noted separately rather than simply converted into full outright wins.
Who has more trophies?
Arsenal have won more trophies overall under the counting method used in this article, while Manchester City have the stronger record in the Premier League era and the Champions League.
| Competition | Arsenal | Manchester City | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top-flight league titles | 14 | 10 | Arsenal |
| FA Cup | 14 | 8 | Arsenal |
| League Cup | 2 | 9 | Manchester City |
| Community Shield (outright + shared) | 17 + 1 | 7 + 1 | Arsenal |
| Champions League / European Cup | 0 | 1 | Manchester City |
| Europa League / UEFA Cup | 0 | 0 | Level |
| European Cup Winners’ Cup | 1 | 1 | Level |
| UEFA Super Cup | 0 | 1 | Manchester City |
| European Fairs Cup | 1 | 0 | Arsenal |
| Intercontinental Cup | 0 | 0 | Level |
| FIFA Club World Cup | 0 | 1 | Manchester City |
| Total (standardised) | 50 | 37 | Arsenal |
Arsenal Trophies
Top-flight league titles: 14
Arsenal’s 14 English top-flight championships are: 1930/31, 1932/33, 1933/34, 1934/35, 1937/38, 1947/48, 1952/53, 1970/71, 1988/89, 1990/91, 1997/98, 2001/02, 2003/04 and 2025/26. Ten of these came in the old First Division.
Four have been won in the Premier League era (1997/98, 2001/02, 2003/04, 2025/26). The 2025/26 title was Arsenal’s first league championship since the Invincibles season and moved the club to 14 top-flight titles overall. It is not accurate to describe all 14 as Premier League titles.
Arsenal FA Cup Trophies
Arsenal have won the FA Cup a record 14 times: 1930, 1936, 1950, 1971, 1979, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2020. No other club matches this total. The record underlines Arsenal’s long-standing strength in the oldest domestic cup competition.
Arsenal League Cup Trophies
Arsenal have won the League Cup twice: 1987 and 1993. It remains the one major domestic honour where Arsenal’s historical collection is modest compared with several rivals.
Arsenal Community Shield / Charity Shield
Arsenal’s official listing has long shown 16 outright wins plus one shared honour (1991 with Tottenham Hotspur).
The 2026 Community Shield victory against Manchester City brought the outright total to 17, giving an overall record of 17 outright + 1 shared.
Shared honours are not converted into full additional outright victories under the methodology used here.
Arsenal European Trophies
European Cup Winners’ Cup: 1 (1993/94, beating Parma 1-0 in the final).
European Fairs Cup: 1 (1969/70, beating Anderlecht 4-3 on aggregate).
Champions League / European Cup: 0. Arsenal have never won the competition; their closest attempt was defeat to Barcelona in the 2006 final.
Europa League / UEFA Cup: 0. Arsenal reached the 2000 UEFA Cup final and the 2019 Europa League final but lost both.
UEFA Super Cup: 0.
Arsenal World Club Trophies
Intercontinental Cup: 0.
FIFA Club World Cup: 0.
Arsenal have never contested or won either competition as winners of Europe’s premier club tournament.
Manchester City Trophies
Top-flight league titles: 10
Manchester City have won the English top flight 10 times: 1936/37, 1967/68, 2011/12, 2013/14, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24.
City finished as Premier League runners-up in 2025/26, seven points behind champions Arsenal, so no 2025/26 title is added to this total.
Premier League titles specifically: 8 — every title from 2011/12 onward.
Manchester City FA Cup
Manchester City have won the FA Cup 8 times: 1904, 1934, 1956, 1969, 2011, 2019, 2023 and 2026. The most recent came on 16 May 2026, a 1-0 win over Chelsea decided by an Antoine Semenyo flick, completing a domestic cup double for the season.
Manchester City League Cup
Manchester City have won the League Cup 9 times: 1970, 1976, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2026. The 2026 success came at Arsenal’s expense, a 2-0 final win at Wembley on 22 March 2026, giving City the outright record for League Cup wins.
Manchester City Community Shield / Charity Shield
Manchester City have won the Community Shield 7 times: 1937, 1968, 1972, 2012, 2018, 2019 and 2024. They lost the 2026 edition 3-0 to Arsenal.
Manchester City European Trophies
Champions League: 1 (2022/23, beating Inter Milan 1-0 in Istanbul as part of a treble-winning season).
Europa League: 0.
European Cup Winners’ Cup: 1 (1969/70, beating Gornik Zabrze 2-1).
UEFA Super Cup: 1 (2023, beating Sevilla on penalties).
European Fairs Cup: 0.
Manchester City World Club Trophies
FIFA Club World Cup: 1 (2023, the final edition of the old seven-team format, beating Fluminense 4-0 in the final). City entered the expanded 32-team 2025 FIFA Club World Cup as defending champions but were eliminated in the round of 16 by Saudi club Al-Hilal.
Intercontinental Cup: 0 (this predecessor competition to the modern Club World Cup was contested before City’s period of major success and was never won by the club).
Manchester City’s total across the standardised categories: 37.
Related reading: Liverpool vs Manchester City Trophies, Chelsea vs Manchester City Trophies, Manchester United vs Manchester City Trophies, Football Positions Explained.
Arsenal vs Manchester City: League Titles
| Competition | Arsenal | Manchester City | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Division titles | 10 | 2 | Arsenal |
| Premier League titles | 4 | 8 | Manchester City |
| Combined top-flight titles | 14 | 10 | Arsenal |
Arsenal’s 14 top-flight titles sit four clear of Manchester City’s 10, but the split by era tells the more interesting story: City actually lead Arsenal 8-4 within the Premier League itself.
Arsenal’s advantage comes almost entirely from the pre-Premier League decades, when City won only twice (1936/37 and 1967/68) against Arsenal’s ten First Division titles.
Arsenal’s 2025/26 title moved their all-time tally to 14 and their Premier League tally to four, narrowing City’s Premier League-era lead from six titles to four.
Arsenal vs Manchester City: Club World Titles
Arsenal 0 — Manchester City 1 FIFA Club World Cup (2023). City’s win came in the final edition of the old seven-team, single-host format, beating Fluminense 4-0 in Jeddah. Neither club has won the Intercontinental Cup, the earlier world club competition that ran from 1960 to 2004. Arsenal have never qualified for or competed in a FIFA Club World Cup final.
Arsenal vs Manchester City: European Trophy Comparison
| Competition | Arsenal | Manchester City | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Champions League | 0 | 1 | Manchester City |
| Europa League | 0 | 0 | Level |
| European Cup Winners’ Cup | 1 | 1 | Level |
| UEFA Super Cup | 0 | 1 | Manchester City |
| European Fairs Cup | 1 | 0 | Arsenal |
The two clubs’ European histories are shaped completely differently. Arsenal’s is old and narrow: one Cup Winners’ Cup in 1994 and one Fairs Cup in 1970, with no Champions League or Europa League silverware despite two major final appearances (2006 and 2019).
Manchester City’s is recent and higher-profile: a Champions League, a Cup Winners’ Cup and a UEFA Super Cup, all won since 1970, with the Champions League and Super Cup both arriving inside a single treble-winning season.
Whether Arsenal or City has the “better” European record genuinely depends on whether the comparison values the biggest prize in the game or breadth across different competitions.
Arsenal vs Manchester City: Trophies in the Last 10 Completed Seasons
In the most recent completed decade (approximately 2016–2026), Manchester City collected the majority of major trophies: multiple Premier League titles, League Cups, FA Cups, the Champions League, Super Cup and Club World Cup, plus the 2025/26 FA Cup and League Cup.
Arsenal’s returns in the same period include the 2020 FA Cup, Community Shields and the decisive 2025/26 Premier League title. City have enjoyed the greater volume of silverware in this window.
Arsenal vs Manchester City: Premier League Era
Since 1992 Arsenal have won four Premier League titles (including 2025/26), multiple FA Cups and Community Shields.
The Wenger years produced the Invincibles and consistent contention. City’s transformation after 2008, and especially the Guardiola era, delivered eight Premier League titles, repeated League Cup success, the 2022/23 treble and world titles. Arteta’s Arsenal returned the club to the Premier League summit in 2025/26.
Final Verdict
Arsenal possess the stronger all-time record of major senior men’s trophies when the same competition categories are applied consistently to both clubs.
Their advantages in top-flight league titles and the FA Cup, together with a clear Community Shield lead and earlier European successes, form the historical foundation.
Manchester City have closed the gap at remarkable speed through Premier League dominance, League Cup supremacy, the 2022/23 Champions League triumph and subsequent world titles.
Arsenal’s 2025/26 Premier League success and City’s FA Cup and League Cup wins that same season illustrate that both clubs remain capable of adding significant silverware.
Trophy totals inevitably depend on methodology. Treatment of the Community Shield (especially shared editions) and the non-UEFA European Fairs Cup produces the main variations across sources.
Using transparent, identical categories shows Arsenal still ahead overall while acknowledging City’s superior modern European and recent domestic cup record.
The comparison is therefore one of complementary strengths rather than a simple declaration of superiority.
