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Wembley stadium

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{{Infobox_Stadium | stadium_name = Wembley | nickname = | image = Image:Newwembleystadium.jpg 250px|New Wembley Stadium exterior design (artist's impression)| location = London, England | broke_ground = 1923 / 2003 | opened = 1924 / 2006 | closed = 2000| demolished = 2003| owner = The Football Association | operator = The Football Association | surface = Grass | construction_cost = Â£750,000 Great Britain Pound GBP (1924)
Â£757 million Great Britain Pound GBP (2006) | architect = | former_names = none| tenants = England national football team | seating_capacity = 90,000 (Football (soccer) Football) | }} '''Wembley Stadium''' is a football (soccer) football stadium in Wembley, London, England, which is currently being rebuilt. It stands opposite Wembley Arena, at British national grid reference system grid reference {{gbmappingsmall|TQ193854}}. Wembley Stadium is one of the world's most famous football stadiums, being the English national stadium national football ground since 1923. Originally known as the '''Empire Stadium''', it was built for the British Empire Exhibition of 1924, at a cost of Â£750,000, on the former site of Watkins' Tower. John Simpson Sir John Simpson and Maxwell Ayrton were the architects and Owen Williams Sir Owen Williams was the Head Engineer. The stadium's distinctive '''Twin Towers''' became its trademark. Also well known were the thirty nine steps needed to be climbed to reach the Royal box and collect a trophy (and winners'/losers' medals). The Stadium's first turf was cut by George V of the United Kingdom King George V and it was first opened to the public on 28 April 1923. In 1934 the '''Wembley Arena Empire Pool''' was built. The Wembley Stadium Collection is held by the National Football Museum.

Football
Image:Newwembley.jpg right|thumb|275px|New Wembley Stadium interior design (artist's impression)
Image:wem.jpg right|thumb|275px|Old Wembley Stadium Image:NewWembleyBuild.jpg right|thumb|275px|New Wembley Stadium under construction, January 2006 Image:Wembley Stadium 26-12-05.jpg right|thumb|275px|New Wembley Stadium looking south, December 2005 The first event held at the stadium was the FA Cup final on 28 April, 1923 between Bolton Wanderers F.C. Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United F.C. West Ham United. This is known as the White Horse Final. With an official maximum capacity of 127,000, the attendance was quoted as 126,947 but up to 200,000 people are thought to have squeezed in through the 104 turnstiles by the time the gates were closed, leaving tens of thousands still queuing outside. It was thought that the match would be postponed until mounted police, including Police Constable George Scorey and his white horse, ''Billie'', slowly pushed the masses back to the sides of the field of play for the FA Cup Final to start just 45 minutes late. Because of that, when the stadium reopens the new footbridge will be known as the White Horse Bridge in honour of Billie. The FA Cup final was played there every year in May (outside wartime) until 2000. It was also the venue for Finals of the FA Amateur Cup, League Cup, Associate Members' Cup and the The Football League Football League promotion Play-off#Playoffs in English football (soccer) play-offs. As the home of the England national football team English national football team, in 1966 it was the leading venue of the Football World Cup 1966 World Cup. It hosted the 1966 World Cup Final final game, where the tournament hosts, England, emerged victorious from a controversial 4-2 extra-time win over West Germany. Thirty years later, it was the principal venue of {{Ec|96}}, hosting the tournament's final, as well as all of England's matches. In all, it has hosted 5 UEFA Champions League European Cup finals, including the 1963 final between A.C. Milan AC Milan and SL Benfica Benfica, and the 1968 final between Manchester United F.C. Manchester United and Benfica. In 1971 it again hosted the final, between Ajax Amsterdam Ajax and Panathinaikos, and once more in 1978, this time between Liverpool F.C. Liverpool and Club Brugge. The last such occasion was in 1992, when FC Barcelona Barcelona played U.C. Sampdoria Sampdoria. The FA unsuccessfully bid for the redeveloped Wembley to host the 2007 final. Wembley has also hosted two Cup Winners' Cup finals (in 1965, when West Ham United F.C. West Ham United beat TSV 1860 MÃ¼nchen 1860 Munich, and 1993). It was also the venue for Arsenal F.C. Arsenal's home Champions League matches in UEFA Champions League 1998-99 1998-99 and UEFA Champions League 1999-00 1999-2000. The only other time it has hosted an individual club's home matches was in 1930, when Leyton Orient F.C. Clapton Orient played two home Football League Third Division South Third Division South games there. The last goal to be scored at the old Wembley came in Kevin Keegan Kevin Keegan's last game as England manager. Liverpool F.C. Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann hit a low free-kick as England were beaten 0-1 by their arch-rivals Germany national football team Germany on October 7 2000. On that day, Tony Adams (footballer) Tony Adams played his 60th Wembley match, setting the record for the most matches played there. As well as England appearances, his tally includes Cup Finals, Cup Semi-Finals, pre-season tournaments and Champions League matches for Arsenal F.C. Arsenal. Fittingly, Adams captained England in that match. Peter Shilton made 58 Wembley appearances, the second highest tally. Of Wembley Stadium, PelÃ© said ''"Wembley is the church of football. It is the capital of football and it is the heart of football"'' ^{[http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/wembley/index.jsp]} in recognition of its status as the world's best-known football stadium.

Other sports
Wembley was the main athletics venue for the 1948 Summer Olympics, with Fanny Blankers-Koen and Emil ZÃ¡topek among the notable winners. In the sport of rugby league, the Rugby Football League RFL has held its Rugby League Challenge Cup Challenge Cup final at Wembley from 1929 onwards, an event often seen as a big day out for a sport whose heartland is in the North of England. The stadium was also regularly used by the sport for major international matches, such as Great Britain national rugby league team Great Britain versus Australia national rugby league team Australia. The first Rugby League Ashes Ashes test of 1994 is particularly well remembered by rugby league supporters. Though the venue has not traditionally been a regular host of rugby union matches, Wales national rugby union team Wales played its Rugby Union Six Nations Championship Five Nations home matches at Wembley while Cardiff Arms Park was being rebuilt as the Millennium Stadium in the late 1990s. The National Football League held several preseason American football games at Wembley during the 1980s and 1990s, and the London Monarchs of the NFL Europe World League of American Football played at the venue in 1991 and 1992. Wembley hosted the inaugural World Bowl where the Monarchs defeated the Barcelona Dragons 21-0. As well as special events, Wembley was also a venue for regular sporting fixtures, notably in greyhound racing and motorcycle speedway. Between 1938 and 1960 it hosted all of the first fifteen stagings of the Speedway World Championship. Wembley's owner's refusal to cancel the regular greyhound racing meant that the match between Uruguay national football team Uruguay and France national football team France in the 1966 World Cup was played at White City Stadium White City. Wembley Stadium also staged women's field hockey matches in which England appeared in their annual match between 1951 to 1969 and then from 1971-1991. In 1992, the World Wrestling Entertainment WWF (now WWE) drew 80,355 when SummerSlam#1992 from Wembley Stadium in London SummerSlam was held. Due to the controversy surrounding the 93,173 audience members at WrestleMania III at the Pontiac Silverdome (some claim that the event only drew 78,000 and the WWF inflated the number), the SummerSlam 1992 audience is possibly the biggest crowd ever to assemble at a WWF/WWE event.

Music
Image:Live_aid.jpg right|thumb|275px|Live Aid at Wembley Stadium, July 1985 Image:Live_Aid_Wembley_Stadium.jpg |right|thumb|275px|Live Aid at Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium became a musical venue in 1972 with an all-star rock 'n' roll concert. The United Kingdom British leg of Live Aid was held there on 13 July 1985 which featured such acts as Paul McCartney, Queen (band) Queen, and U2. Queen held two huge concerts in 1986 and the The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert Freddie Mercury Tribute was also held there in 1992. The band Genesis (band) Genesis also held huge shows in July 1987. The Nelson Mandela tribute concert was performed in 1988. Elton John is also noted for concerts, including his well known 1984 Day and Night Concert On July 13, 1991 the Australian band INXS played to "the biggest pub [they've] ever played", which consisted of 72,000 screaming fans. This was recorded for posterity in "Live Baby Live." Michael Jackson performed a record seven sell-out shows at Wembley Stadium during his 1988 Bad World Tour. Jackson would later return for a further five shows on his 1992 Dangerous Tour before selling his millionth Wembley Stadium ticket on 1997's HIStory Tour, when he performed his last three Wembley shows. The little-known NetAid charity concert was also performed at Wembley in 1999. On July 21, 2000, the British rock band Oasis (band) Oasis performed live in the stadium, as documented in the film ''Familiar to Millions'' Bon Jovi were scheduled to be the first band to play at the new Wembley Stadium, with concerts on June 10 2006 and the following days, however, due to the delays in the construction of the new stadium, the concerts were moved to Twickenham Stadium. In 1995, the New Jersey rockers played three sell-out nights at Wembley Stadium on their ''These Days'' tour, and they were also the last rock band to play at the old Wembley stadium â€” playing three consecutive nights in August 2000 before the gates were closed for the last time.

Redevelopment
The stadium closed in 2000 and was demolished in 2003 for redevelopment. The new Wembley will be the most expensive stadium ever built, and have the second largest capacity in Europe. The new design is for an all-seated capacity of 90,000 protected from the elements by a sliding roof. The stadium's signature feature will be a circular section lattice arch of 7 metre internal diameter with a 315 metre span, erected some 22° off true, and rising to 133 metres tall. According to "Guinness World Records 2006", the archway is the world's longest unsupported roof structure. The arch was raised for the first time during construction of the Stadium in June 2004. This is the stadiums answer to a new trademark, with the old trademark being the Twin Towers. The stadium will also be linked with Wembley Park tube station Wembley Park Station on the London Underground via Olympic Way, and Wembley Central via the White Horse Bridge. A "platform system" has also been designed to convert the stadium for athletics use, however installation of the platform decreases the stadium's capacity to approximately 60,000. At first a string of financial and political difficulties delayed the work for over two years. The new stadium is currently under construction, with the total cost of the project (including local transport infrastructure redevelopment and the cost of financing) estimated in 2003 to be Â£757 million. It was scheduled to open on 13 May, 2006, with the first game being that year's FA Cup Final. However, worries were expressed as to whether the stadium will actually be completed on time ^{[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/4427962.stm]}.In October 2005, Sports Minister Richard Caborn announced: "They say the Cup Final will be there, barring six feet of snow or something like that". In December 2005, the builders admitted that there was a "material risk" that this could happen ^{[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/4547728.stm]} and in February 2006, these worries were confirmed by the FA moving the game to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. On 20 March 2006, part of the roof of the new development collapsed forcing 3,000 workers to evacuate the stadium and raising further doubts over the completion date which is already behind schedule[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4824448.stm]. On 23 March 2006, sewers beneath the stadium buckled due to ground movement[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4838744.stm]. GMB Union leader Steve Kelly said that the problem had been caused by the pipes not being properly laid, and that the repair would take months. A spokesman for developers Multiplex said that they did not believe this would "have any impact on the completion of the stadium", which is scheduled to be completed on 31 March 2006. On 30 March 2006, the developers [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4862156.stm announced] that the Wembley Stadium will not be ready until 2007. All competitions and concerts planned will be moved to suitable locations. Image:Oldwembley.jpg right|thumb|275px|Old Wembley Stadium
(1923-2000) A short documentary of its redevelopment can be found on the ''Queen Live at Wembley 1986'' DVD. The reconstruction of the stadium is part of the wider regeneration of Wembley. The new Wembley is a significant part of the plan for the 2012 Summer Olympics to be held in London; the stadium will be the site of several games in both the men's and women's football tournaments, with the finals planned to be held there.

External links

- Official site
- Description at sportsvenue-technology.com
- Wembley Stadium at FIFA.com
- Construction web cam
- Old Wembley Stadium @worldstadia.com
- New Wembley Stadium @worldstadia.com
- Satellite Photo of Old Wembley
- Guardian newspaper History of Wembley
- Brent Council development plans
- Wembley trivia
- Virtual tour
- Old Wembley Twin Towers Tribute {{Olympic Stadium}} Category:2012 Summer Olympic venues Category:Athletics stadia in the United Kingdom Category:Brent Category:British rugby league stadia Category:England national football team Category:FIFA World Cup stadiums Category:Football venues in England Category:Music venues in London Category:Olympic stadiums London Category:Speedway venues Category:Sports venues in London Category:Tall buildings and structures in London Category:UEFA European championship stadiums Category:UEFA 5 star stadiums Category:Visitor attractions in London Category:Planned or proposed stadia {{UEFA5Star}} de:Wembley-Stadion es:Estadio Nuevo Wembley fr:Wembley Stadium he:×?×¦×˜×“×™×•×Ÿ ×•×ž×‘×œ×™ nl:Wembley ja:ã‚¦ã‚§ãƒ³ãƒ–ãƒ¬ãƒ¼ãƒ»ã‚¹ã‚¿ã‚¸ã‚¢ãƒ no:Wembley Stadium pl:Stadion Wembley pt:EstÃ¡dio de Wembley fi:Wembley Stadium sv:Wembley Stadium see Wembley Stadium

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