Hull City Beat Manchester United for First Time in 52 Years
Hull City beat Manchester United in the Premier League on 22 August 2026 — their first league win over the club since 1974 (The Guardian).
Semi Ajayi opened the scoring with his second league goal for Hull. Nobel Mendy, on his debut, doubled the lead with a header from a Regan Slater free-kick delivery. Youri Tielemans had given away the set-piece that led to the goal.
For Hull, freshly promoted after beating Middlesbrough 1-0 in the Championship play-off final in May — Oli McBurnie scoring the last-gasp winner that day (Reuters) — this was a statement result against one of English football's biggest names.
Michael Carrick, permanently appointed as Manchester United manager after replacing Ruben Amorim, watched his side struggle to find a way through. Matheus Cunha was deployed as a false nine — a striker who drops deep to create space rather than playing as a conventional target man — but the visitors lacked cutting edge.
Carrick made a change at half-time, taking off Patrick Dorgu and bringing on Marcus Rashford in the No 9 shirt. Rashford knows about late drama against Hull: he scored a stoppage-time winner when the sides met in the 2016/17 season, giving United a 1-0 win that maintained their perfect start that year (Premier League). There was to be no repeat here.
Hull goalkeeper Senne Lammens was central to preserving the result. He saved a shot from McBurnie, who was facing his former club, and tipped over a cross from Ryan Giles. At the other end, Harry Maguire and Elliot Stroud clashed in an incident where both players felt wronged, but no foul was given.
The match was broadcast with a twist of its own: TNT Sports made its Early Kick Off show available free-to-air on YouTube for the first time (The Guardian), giving any fan with a phone a window into the build-up.
For Hull City, a club back in the top flight after winning promotion through the play-offs, beating Manchester United at home is the kind of afternoon that stays with a support for generations. The last time they managed a league win over United, the world was a very different place. Now they have another.
