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Wembley Stadium
Sign in to saveAlso known as Old Wembley, Empire Stadium, Empire Exhibition Stadium
former stadium in Wembley Park, London
Key facts
- Former names
- Empire Stadium, British Empire Exhibition Stadium
- Location
- Wembley , England
- Owner
- Wembley Company
- Capacity
- 82,000 (original standing capacity was 125,000, and later 100,000 prior to being made all-seated in 1990)
- Surface
- Grass and track
- Record attendance
- 126,047 ( Bolton Wanderers vs West Ham United – 1923 FA Cup final )
- Groundbreaking
- 1922 ; 104 years ago ( 1922 )
- Opened
- 28 April 1923 ; 103 years ago ( 1923-04-28 )
- Renovated
- 1963 ; 63 years ago ( 1963 )
- Closed
- 7 October 2000 ; 25 years ago ( 2000-10-07 )
- Demolished
- 2002–2003
- Rebuilt
- Replaced in 2007 by the new Wembley Stadium
- Construction cost
- £750,000 (£49.81 million in 2023)
- Architect
- Sir John William Simpson and Maxwell Ayrton Sir Owen Williams (engineer)
via Wikipedia infobox
~33 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The first Wembley Stadium (/ˈwɛmbli/), originally known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, London, England. It opened in 1923 and was demolished in 2002 to make room for the new Wembley Stadium.
Wembley hosted the FA Cup final annually, the first in 1923, which was the stadium's inaugural event, the League Cup final annually, five European Cup finals, the 1966 World Cup final, and the final of Euro 1996. Brazilian footballer Pelé once said of the stadium: "Wembley is the cathedral of football. It is the capital of football and it is the heart of football", in recognition of its status as the world's most famous football stadium.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Wembley Stadium” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.