Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium

The Venue of Legends
‎
Location	London, England
Broke ground	2003
Opened	2007
Owner	The Football Association
Operator	Wembley National Stadium Limited
Surface	Grass
Construction cost	GBP £798 million (2007)
Architect	Foster and Partners HOK Sport Venue Event
Capacity	90,000 (football, rugby league) 86,000 (American football) 75,000 to 90,000 seated and 15,000 standing (concerts) 68,400 to 72,000 (athletics)
Tenants
England national football team NFL International Series (2007-2009)

Wembley Stadium is a stadium in Wembley, located in the London Borough of Brent in London, England. It is owned by The Football Association (FA) via its subsidiary Wembley National Stadium Limited, and its primary use is for home games of the England national football team, and the main English domestic football finals. It is also used for pop concerts and other sporting events.

With 90,000 seats the stadium has the second largest capacity in Europe, and is the largest stadium in the world with every seat under cover.^[1] Immediately following its opening, it was often referred to as the "new Wembley Stadium" to distinguish it from the original stadium. The stadium is also the most expensive stadium ever built.^[2]

The previous Wembley Stadium (originally known as the British Empire Exhibition Stadium or Empire Stadium) was one of the world's most famous football stadia, being England's national stadium for football, and because of the geographical origins of the game was often referred to as "The Home of Football".^[3] It hosted the European Cup (now the UEFA Champions League) final a record five times, and is one of seventeen stadia to have held a FIFA World Cup final. In 2003, the original structure was demolished and construction began on the new stadium, originally intended to open in 2006. This was later delayed until early 2007. The final completion date of the stadium was 9 March 2007, when the keys to the stadium were handed over to the FA.^[4]

Building

Construction of the new Wembley, looking east, taken January 2006

Wembley was designed by architects HOK Sport and Foster and Partners with engineers Mott MacDonald, built by Multiplex and funded by Sport England, WNSL (Wembley National Stadium Limited), the Football Association, the Department for Culture Media and Sport and the London Development Agency. It is the most expensive stadium ever built^[2] at a cost of £798 million (roughly US$1.57 billion)^[2] and has the largest roof-covered seating capacity in the world.

The all-seater stadium is based around a bowl design with a capacity of 90,000, protected from the elements by a sliding roof that does not completely enclose it. It can also be adapted as an athletic stadium by erecting a temporary platform over the lowest tier of seating . The stadium's signature feature is a circular section lattice arch of 7 m (23 ft) internal diameter with a 315 m (1,033 ft) span, erected some 22° off true, and rising to 140 m (459 ft) tall. It supports all the weight of the north roof and 60% of the weight of the retractable roof on the southern side.^[5] The archway is the world's longest unsupported roof structure.^[6] Instead of the 39 steps climbed, in the original stadium, to enter the Royal Box and collect a trophy, there are now 107.^[7]

A "platform system" has been designed to convert the stadium for athletics use, but its use would decrease the stadium's capacity to approximately 60,000. No athletics events have taken place at the stadium, and none are scheduled.

The stadium is linked to Wembley Park Station on the London Underground via Olympic Way, and Wembley Central via the White Horse Bridge. It also has a rail link—provided by the Wembley Stadium railway station—to London Marylebone and Birmingham.

The initial plan for the reconstruction of Wembley was for demolition to begin before Christmas 2000, and for the new stadium to be completed some time during 2003, but this work was delayed by a succession of financial and legal difficulties. 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 would actually be completed on time.^[8] The new stadium was completed and handed over to the FA on 9 March 2007, with the total cost of the project (including local transport infrastructure redevelopment and the cost of financing) estimated to be £1 billion (roughly US$1.97 billion).

The stadium in its very early stages of construction, circa August 2003

New Wembley Stadium looking south, down the new Wembley Way, January 2007

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". However in December 2005, the builders admitted that there was a "material risk" that the stadium might not be ready in time for the Cup Final^[9] and in February 2006, these worries were confirmed by the FA moving the game to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

The delays started as far back as 2003. In December 2003, the constructors of the arch, subcontractors Cleveland Bridge, warned Multiplex about rising costs and a delay on the steel job of almost a year due to design changes which Multiplex rejected. Cleveland Bridge were removed from the project and replaced by Dutch firm Hollandia with all the attendant problems of starting over. On 20 March 2006, a steel rafter in the roof of the new development fell by a foot and a half, forcing 3,000 workers to evacuate the stadium and raising further doubts over the completion date which was already behind schedule.^[10] On 23 March 2006, sewers beneath the stadium buckled due to ground movement.^[11] 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 was then scheduled to be completed on 31 March 2006.

On 30 March 2006, the developers announced that Wembley Stadium would not be ready until 2007.^[12] All competitions and concerts planned were to be moved to suitable locations. On 19 June 2006 it was announced that the turf had been laid. On 19 October 2006 it was announced that the venue was now set to open in early 2007 after the dispute between The Football Association and Multiplex had finally been settled. WNSL, a subsidiary of The Football Association, is expected to pay around £36m to Multiplex, as well as the amount of the original fixed-price contract. This meant that the Wembley Stadium was ready for the 2007 FA Cup Final on 19 May 2007. The official Wembley Stadium website announced that the stadium would be open for public viewing for local residents of Brent on 3 March 2007, however the event was delayed by two weeks and instead happened on 17 March. The keys to the new Wembley stadium were finally handed over to the owners on 9 March 2007 ready to be open and used for upcoming FA Cup football matches, concerts and other events.

A short documentary of its redevelopment can be found on the Queen Live at Wembley '86 DVD. The reconstruction of the stadium is part of the wider regeneration of Wembley.

Although not completed or opened at the time, EA Sports added Wembley Stadium into the video game FIFA 07.

A statue of Bobby Moore—the captain of the England national football team when they won the 1966 Football World Cup at Wembley—was unveiled outside the stadium on Friday May 11 2007.^[13]

Structure

Inside the stadium

• With 90,000 seats, the new Wembley is one of the largest stadiums in the world with every seat under cover. This capacity is separated into 3 tiers of seating, with the lower tier holding 34,303 spectators, the middle one 16,932 and the upper one 39,165^[14]
• The stadium contains 2,618 toilets, more than any other venue in the world.^[15]
• The stadium has a circumference of 1 km (0.6 mi).^[1]
• At its peak, there were more than 3,500 construction workers on site.^[16]
• 4,000 separate piles form the foundations of the new stadium,^[1] the deepest of which is 35 m (115 ft).^[1]
• There are 56 km (35 miles) of heavy-duty power cables in the stadium.^[1]
• 90,000 m³ (120,000 cu yds) of concrete and 23,000 tonnes (25,000 short tons) of steel were used in the construction of the new stadium.^[1]
• The total length of the escalators is 400 m (¼ mi).^[1]
• The Wembley Arch has a diameter greater than that of a cross-channel train.^[17][18]

Pitch

Inside the stadium, in the daytime

The new pitch is 13 ft lower than the previous pitch. The pitch size is 115 yards (105 m) long by 75 yards (69 m) wide, slightly narrower than the old Wembley^[19] Since the completion of the new Wembley, the pitch has come into major disrepute when it was commented on being "no good" and "not in the condition that Wembley used to be known for" by Slaven Bilić before the game between England and the team he managed, Croatia.^[20] It was confirmed when the pitch was terribly cut up during the game, which was blamed by some^[21] as the reason England did not qualify for UEFA Euro 2008 despite previous results also being blamed by others.^[22]

Roof

Detail of the arch

The new 6,350 tonne roof covers an area of over 45,000 square metres (11 acres), 4 acres (16,000 m²) of which are movable and rise to 52 m (170 ft) above the pitch.^[1] With a span of 317 m (1040 ft), the arch is the longest single span roof structure in the world and is 134 m (440 ft) above the level of the external concourse,^[18] and is designed not to cast a shadow on the pitch.^[23] Contrary to popular belief, the stadium's roof is not fully retractable, meaning it cannot cover the playing surface in inclement weather.^[24]

Tenants

The English national football team is a major user of Wembley Stadium. Given the ownership by The Football Association as of 10 March 2007, the League Cup final moved back to Wembley from Cardiff following the FA Cup final and FA Community Shield. Other showpiece football matches that were previously staged at Wembley, such as the Football League promotion play-offs and the Football League Trophy final, have returned to the stadium, as has the Football Conference play-off final. Additionally, the Rugby League Challenge Cup final returned to Wembley Stadium in 2007. The new Wembley is a significant part of the plan for the 2012 Summer Olympics 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. The Guinness Premiership reportedly discussed staging the London Double Header, usually held at Twickenham, at Wembley during the 2007-08 season,^[25] although the game was ultimately played at Twickenham.

The Race of Champions staged their 2007 event at the stadium, and have announced that the 2008 event will take place at Wembley Stadium, on 14 December, 2008.

Music

The stage at the Live Earth concert held at Wembley on 7 July 2007.

Besides football, Wembley can be configured to hold many other events, particularly major concerts. The first concert at the new stadium was given by George Michael on June 9, 2007.^[26] Other acts to have performed at the stadium are Muse, Metallica, Foo Fighters and Madonna. Oasis and Coldplay are due to perform in 2009. Two large charity concerts have been held at the new Wembley stadium, the Concert for Diana, a memorial concert ten years after the Death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Live Earth. Bon Jovi were scheduled to be the first artists to perform at the new Wembley but the late completion of the stadium saw the concerts relocated to the National Bowl and the KC Stadium.

Firsts at the new Wembley Stadium

Football

• The first match at the stadium was a behind closed doors friendly between Multiplex and Wembley Stadium staff.^[27]
• The first football game was Geoff Thomas Foundation Charity XI and the Wembley Sponsors Allstars on March 17. The Geoff Thomas Foundation Charity XI won 2-0 (scorers Mark Bright and Simon Jordan). The first person to score at the new stadium was Mark Bright.
• The first official match involving professional players staged at the new stadium was England U21s vs Italy U21s on March 24 2007, which finished 3-3. Official attendance was 55,700 (although all of the 60,000 tickets that were made available were sold in advance). This now stands as the record for the largest under-21 attendance ever. ^[28]

• The first footballer to score in a FIFA sanctioned match was Italian striker Giampaolo Pazzini after 28 seconds of the same game between England U21 and Italy U21. Pazzini went on to score twice more in the second half of the match making him the first person to score a hat-trick at Wembley Stadium since Paul Scholes for England in 1999. This gives Pazzini two other records, the fastest goal scored at Wembley (old or new stadium) and the first person to score a hat-trick at the new Wembley. The first English player to score in a full-scale match was David Bentley with a free kick in the same game. ^[28]

• The first penalty saved and first red card came in the Conference playoff final between Exeter City and Morecambe. The penalty was saved by Paul Jones of Exeter City from Morecambe striker Wayne Curtis. The red card was given to Matthew Gill of Exeter for a headbutt on Craig Stanley of Morecambe.^[29]

• The first club game, competitive game, and cup final held at the new Wembley took place on Saturday 12 May 2007 when Kidderminster Harriers met Stevenage Borough in the FA Trophy final. Kidderminster striker James Constable was the first player to score a goal in a final at the new Wembley in the FA Trophy Final. Kidderminster became the first team to play at both the old and new stadium. The game had a capped capacity of 80,000, and although allocations were between 15,000 and 20,000 for each club, the capacity reached 53,262. Stevenage Borough were the first team to win a final at the new Wembley beating Kidderminster 3-2, despite trailing 2-0 at half time.
• The first FA Vase final, featuring Truro City and AFC Totton took place on 13 May 2007, and was won by Truro 3-1. Its attendance of 36,232[1] stands as the highest in the competition's history.
• The first players to play at both the old and new Wembley stadia were Steve Guppy (for Stevenage Borough) and Jeff Kenna (for Kidderminster Harriers). Ex-England international Guppy was the first player to win a final at both stadia.
• The first ever FA Cup Final at the new Wembley (between Manchester United and Chelsea) was on Saturday 19 May 2007. Chelsea won 1-0 with a goal by Didier Drogba, making him the first player to score in the FA Cup final at the new Wembley. Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech also became the first goalkeeper not to concede a goal in a competitive game at Wembley. Chelsea were the last winners of the cup final at the old Wembley and the first winners at the new.
• The first ever Football League Cup (Carling Cup) Final at the new Wembley (between Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs) and Chelsea) was on Sunday 24 February 2008. Spurs won 2-1, with the winning goal in extra time.
• The first game involving the full English national team was an international friendly played on June 1, 2007, against Brazil. The match saw captain John Terry become the first England international goal scorer at the new stadium when he scored in the 68th minute. Diego became the first full international player to score for a visiting team when he scored in stoppage time, with the fulltime result being England 1-1 Brazil
• The first competitive senior international was played on September 8, 2007 between England and Israel. This game ended 3-0.
• The first player to score international goals at both the old and new stadiums was Michael Owen when he scored for England against Israel in the Euro 2008 qualifier on September 8th 2007.
• League Two Playoff (between Bristol Rovers F.C. and Shrewsbury Town F.C.) took place at Wembley on May 26 2007. Bristol Rovers won the game 3-1 with goals Richard Walker 21, 35, Sammy Igoe 93. Stewart Drummond, Shrewsbury Town F.C. scored the first ever goal by a Football League club at the stadium after 3 minutes. A record League Two play off crowd of 61,589 witnessed the game, its also the highest crowd for any League Two/ fourth tier match.
• On August 22nd Germany beat England 2-1, becoming the last team to beat England in "Old Wembley" and the first team to beat them in the new Wembley Stadium
• The first ever Community Shield at Wembley was played on 5 August, 2007 between Manchester United and Chelsea. The score ended 1-1, but Manchester United won the first penalty shoot out at the new Wembley, 3-0.
• England's first competitive defeat at the new stadium was on November 21 2007 when Croatia beat England 3-2. This match cost England qualification to Euro 2008 and head coach Steve McClaren his job.
• Sven-Göran Eriksson is the only England manager not to lead out a team at Wembley. Fabio Capello became England's first foreign manager at Wembley in February 2008 against Switzerland.
• The first ever FA Cup Semi-final played at the new Wembley was between Portsmouth and West Bromwich Albion on Saturday 5th April 2008. Portsmouth won the game 1-0 with a goal from former West Bromwich Albion striker Nwankwo Kanu. The game was a controversial one, with replays since showing that Portsmouth striker Milan Baros seemingly handballed in the build up to the goal after West Bromwich Albion had been on top for the first half. However Portsmouth rallied in the second half and the winner from Kanu came in the 54th minute.

Rugby league

• The Rugby League Challenge Cup Final had previously been played annually at the old Wembley Stadium since 1929, when Wigan were the victors, and in 2007 the cup final returned to its traditional home after the re-building of Wembley.
• When Catalans Dragons played St Helens in the 2007 Challenge Cup Final on 25 August, they became the first non-English rugby league team to play in the final. The result saw St Helens retain the cup by a score of 30-8.
• The first Rugby League team to win a game at the new Wembley Stadium, were in fact Normanton Freeston. The West Yorkshire secondary school beat Castleford High School in the Year 7 boys Carnegie Champion Schools final, which was played immediately prior to the 2007 Challenge Cup Final. ^[30]
• The first official try at Wembley was scored by James Roby of St Helens, although there had been several tries scored in the schools game that took place before the 2007 Challenge Cup final.

Rugby union

• The first rugby union International at the new Wembley stadium will be between the Barbarians and Australia on 3 December 2008.

American football

• On October 28, 2007, the New York Giants defeated the Miami Dolphins by a score of 13-10 in the first NFL regular-season game to be played outside of North America, and first ever to be played in Europe.

References

External links

• Wembley Stadium Tours
• Official site
• Online shop
• Wembley Stadium Forum for all Past, Present and Future events
• Wembley trivia
• Wembley Stadium Pictures on Flickr
• NFL at Wembley Stadium photos
• Getting to Wembley by bus, tube and train quickmap mapmovies

Football in England

League competitions The FA Cup competitions Premier League England (B) (C) FA Cup The Football League (Champ, 1, 2) (U-21) (U-20) (U-19) Football League Cup Football Conference (Nat, N, S) (U-18) (U-17) (U-16) FA Community Shield Northern Premier (Prem, 1N, 1S) List of clubs Football League Trophy Southern League (Prem, 1Mid, 1S&W) List of venues FA Trophy Isthmian League (Prem, 1N, 1S) (by capacity) Conference League Cup English football league system List of leagues FA Vase Records FA NLS Cup Foreign players