Address: Great Britain, London
Start of construction: 2003 year
Completion of construction: 2007 year
Capacity: 90,000 (2017)
Home team: England national football team
Coordinates: 51 ° 33'22.1 "N 0 ° 16'46.1" W
Content:
The legendary Wembley Stadium, where the English national football team plays all its home games, is known to every fan of this popular game.
It is located in the northwest of the British capital London. The final matches of the Champions League, the central matches of the English clubs take place at this stadium. In addition to the most important football matches, Wembley also hosts American football and rugby matches..
Bird's eye view of the stadium
Surprisingly, thanks to the architects' design and its successful implementation, this luxurious stadium offers the opportunity to host sports car races. Naturally, Wembley is also a wonderful concert venue where 90,000 spectators, the most famous stars of show business, dream of performing and enjoying the applause.
"Ancient history
The first stadium "Wembley" or, as Londoners call it "Old Wembley", was built in 1923 in record time. Thanks to the efforts of 3,000 people, a huge building was built from concrete in 12 months, intended for the exhibition of the British Empire, which was to be held in 1924. At the grand opening of Wembley on April 28, 1923, King George V of Great Britain was personally present.
View of the stadium at night
As conceived by architects Maxwell Ayrton and John William Simpson, the concrete building was to be demolished immediately after the end of the main exhibition of Foggy Albion. Then no one even imagined that the stadium would last exactly 80 years and become one of the main attractions of London. This happened thanks to Arthur Alvin, who decided to buy out the abandoned pavilions after Wembley was recognized as economically unprofitable.
April 28, 1923 is not only the opening date of the world famous stadium. On this day, the FA Cup final took place at the old Wembley, later called the "final of the white horse". Why this match received such a strange name, not everyone knows.
View of the stadium from Olympic Way
The fact is that even during the construction of the stadium, the Football Association of England carried out an advertising campaign in which it presented the new stadium as the greatest and most comfortable sports arena in the world. Naturally, such loud words could not fail to interest the British, and according to the most conservative estimates, more than 250,000 people came to the match between West Ham United and Bolton Wonders. And this despite the fact that the stands were designed for "only" 125,000 fans. Tickets were sold to everyone right at the entrance to the stadium, the organizers did not calculate their number, and in a matter of minutes Wembley Stadium was overcrowded: spectators began to sit right on the playing field. The crush began, and it was decided to bring the mounted police into the stadium. One of the most active policemen pranced among the crowd of indignant football fans on a horse of light suit.
Wembley Arch view
She was remembered most of all by Londoners that day, for which the match received such a strange name. Speaking of names, as soon as Wembley was not called: Twin Towers, the sacred lawn. The stadium got its name Twin Towers thanks to two towers that were unique, like two drops of water, similar to each other, which were located at its entrance. The legendary player Pele, whose name is known even to a person unfamiliar with football, called Wembley Stadium nothing more than the cathedral, built in honor of the most popular game in the world.
Over the entire history of its existence, the old Wembley hosted a lot of different sports, but from the moment of its opening until the 60s of the last century, the main "cash desk" was done to it, no matter how strange it may sound, dog races.
View of the stadium from Royal Route
These four-legged competitions, during which spectators had the opportunity to place bets, attracted a huge number of visitors to the stadium. But since 1966, Wembley has become the main football arena in England, which was appreciated not only by Londoners, but also by legendary players from all over the world. In 1966, England hosted the FIFA World Cup, and Wembley became the stadium for the final games. As you know, everything in this world is subject to the inexorable passage of time: it was decided to destroy the old Wembley, and in its place to build a new stadium that meets all modern requirements for the comfort and safety of spectators. The last game on the field of the old stadium took place on October 7, 2000. Then in an uncompromising match the teams of England and Germany met.
View of the football field
Recent history
The new Wembley Stadium was planned to replace the old one by 2003. However, funding problems dragged out the renovation of the legendary football arena until 2007. The new stadium was designed by two reputable architectural firms exclusively dedicated to sports facilities, Populous and Foster and Partners. The official opening of the new Wembley, which is now considered one of the best stadiums in the world, took place on 19 May 2007. On this day, probably already according to the good old tradition, the final match for the FA Cup between the teams of Chelsea and Manchester United was held at the newly opened stadium. The cup then went to Chelsea, a team currently owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. A little earlier,
Stadium tribune
A monument to 1966 England captain Bobby Moore was unveiled in front of the Wembley entrance on 11 May 2007... The new stadium hosted the final match of the Olympic teams of Brazil and Mexico in 2012. Unexpectedly for everyone, the Mexicans received Olympic gold, for whom the field at New Wembley became happy.
At the new Wembley
The modern stadium in the form of a huge bowl, designed for 90,000 people, impresses with its developed infrastructure: escalators, comfortable seats for fans, 2,618 toilets, VIP boxes for noble people, a lot of restaurants, bars, conference rooms and a museum - just a little that can see a visitor to the new Wembley. If two twin towers were rightfully considered the symbol of the old stadium, then at New Wembley the main attraction is a huge arch 315 meters long, towering over the arena at a height of 133 meters.
View of the stadium stands
By the way, this arch is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest roof structure with no fixings. Surprisingly, this loose arch supports the weight of the entire north roof of the stadium. It also carries a little over 60% of the weight of the retractable southern roof. During the development of the stadium project, the architects foresaw the possibility of holding competitions for athletes. Thanks to the huge platform system, an additional area is freed up where athletics competitions can take place. However, at the same time, the number of spectators that the stadium will be able to accommodate will immediately be reduced by 30,000. In fairness, it is worth noting that until now at the new Wembley athletes' competitions have not been held, and are unlikely to be held in the future.
Monument to Bobby Moore at the entrance to the stadium
After all, Wembley is the second largest football arena in the world, a kind of symbol of modern football, on the field of which every player dreams of entering at least once in his life.
