2016–17 Manchester United F.C. season

Pre-season and friendlies

United preceded their 2016–17 campaign with a friendly against Wigan, a tour of China, a friendly in Sweden facing Turkish club Galatasaray in the 2016 SuperGame, and Wayne Rooney's testimonial match between Manchester United and Everton at Old Trafford.

FA Community Shield

As a result of winning the 2015–16 FA Cup, Manchester United were scheduled to face Leicester City, who won the 2015–16 Premier League, in their 30th FA Community Shield appearance. Manchester United won the match to claim their 21st Community Shield (including four shared titles).

Premier League

The Premier League season kicked off on 13 August and is scheduled to conclude on 21 May.

FA Cup

Manchester United entered the FA Cup in the third round with the other Premier League clubs, as well as those from the Championship. The third round draw was made on 5 December and it drew United with a home tie against Championship side Reading, managed by Jaap Stam, who returned to Old Trafford for the first time since leaving United in 2001 after a three-year spell. United cruised to a 4–0 victory on 7 January with first-half goals from Wayne Rooney – who equalled Bobby Charlton's 249-goal record for the club in the process, Anthony Martial and a second-half brace from Marcus Rashford. League One champions Wigan Athletic, managed by Warren Joyce who left his Manchester United Under-23 coaching role in November to join Wigan, were drawn as United's fourth round opponents on 9 January for another home tie.

EFL Cup

As one of seven English clubs who qualified for European competition in the 2015–16 season, United received a bye to the third round of the EFL Cup. The draw for the third round took place on 24 August 2016. United were drawn away against Northampton Town. The match was scheduled for 21 September 2016 and Manchester United won 3–1, Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera and Marcus Rashford scored the goals. Alex Revell scored for Northampton Town from the penalty spot in the 42nd minute of the game.

The draw for the next round took place shortly after the match and United were drawn at home against Manchester City. The game was played on 26 October 2016. The Reds won 1–0 with Juan Mata scoring the only goal.

The Fifth round draw was held shortly afterwards and Manchester United got West Ham at home. The match was played on 30 November 2016. United won 4–1, with Zlatan Ibrahimović and Anthony Martial both scoring braces. Former youth Manchester United player, Ashley Fletcher scored the only goal for the Hammers in the 35th minute.

The Semi–finals draw took place immediately after the game and the Reds were drawn against Hull City. The first leg was scheduled for 10 January 2017 at home and United won 2–0, thanks to goals from Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini, with the latter being brought as a substitute. United lost the second leg, played on 26 January 2017 at the KCOM Stadium, 2–1 but progressed to the final 3–2 on aggregate to play Southampton.

Group stage

As FA Cup winners, United entered the Europa League at the group stage. The draw took place on 26 August 2016 and saw United paired with Turkish league runners-up Fenerbahçe, Dutch cup winners Feyenoord and the fourth-placed team from the Ukrainian league, Zorya Luhansk. They had met Fenerbahçe in Europe twice before (1996–97 and 2004–05) and Feyenoord once before (1997–98). The fixture schedule sees United first head to the Netherlands to play Feyenoord on 15 September, then a home game against Zorya Luhansk two weeks later, followed by a double-header against Fenerbahçe, first at home then away. The programme then closes out with the return games against Feyenoord and Zorya Luhansk. Due to the war in Donbass, the away game against Zorya Luhansk will be played at Chornomorets Stadium in Odessa.

Knockout phase

The draw for the round of 32 was made on 12 December, with Manchester United drawn against French side Saint-Étienne, who finished top of group C. The tie saw Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba come up against his elder brother, Florentin, who plays as a defender for the French side. Manchester United's only previous meeting with Saint-Étienne came in the first round of the 1977–78 European Cup Winners' Cup; the second leg was played at Home Park in Plymouth after Manchester United were banned from playing within 200 kilometres (120 mi) of Old Trafford, following crowd trouble at the first leg in Saint-Étienne. The home tie saw Zlatan Ibrahimovic score his maiden hat-trick for the club, while a goal from Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the second leg was enough to send United through. In the round of 16, Manchester United will play against Russian side Rostov.

Squad statistics

Statistics accurate as of 26 February 2017.