Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium
The Venue of Legends
Location London, England
Broke ground 2003
Built 2003–2006
Opened 2007
Owner The Football Association
Operator Wembley National Stadium Limited
Surface Desso GrassMaster
Construction cost GBP £757 million (2007)[1]
(£783 million in 2012 sterling[2])
Architect Foster and Partners
Populous (then HOK Sport), Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners (planning consultants)[3]
Project Manager Symonds[4]
Structural engineer Mott MacDonald[4]
Services engineer Mott MacDonald[4]
General Contractor Multiplex Constructions (UK) Ltd[4]
Capacity 90,000 (football, rugby league, rugby union)
86,000 (American football)
75,000 to 90,000 seated and 15,000 standing (concerts)
60,000 to 72,000 (athletics)
Field dimensions 105 × 68 m (115 × 75 yd)
Tenants
England national football team (2007–present)
England National Rugby League Team
NFL International Series (2007–present)

Wembley Stadium (often referred to simply as Wembley, pronounced /ˈwɛmbli/, or sometimes as the New Wembley) is a football stadium located in Wembley Park, in the Borough of Brent, London, England. It opened in 2007 and was built on the site of the previous 1923 Wembley Stadium. The earlier Wembley stadium, originally called the Empire Stadium, was often referred to as "The Twin Towers" and was one of the world's most famous football stadiums until its demolition in 2003.[5]

It is a UEFA category four stadium. The 90,000-capacity venue (105,000 combined seating and standing) is the second largest stadium in Europe, and serves as England's national stadium. It is the home venue of the England national football team, and hosts the latter stages of the top level domestic club cup competition, the FA Cup. It is owned by English football's governing body, The Football Association (The FA), through their subsidiary Wembley National Stadium Ltd (WNSL).

Designed by Foster and Partners and Populous (then HOK Sport), it includes a partially retractable roof. A signature feature of the stadium, following on from the old Wembley's distinctive Twin Towers, is the 134 metres (440 ft) high Wembley Arch. With a span of 317 metres (1,040 ft), this steel arch is the longest single span roof structure in the world and, uniquely for a stadium, requires beacons for low flying aircraft. The stadium was built by Australian firm Multiplex at a cost of £798 million. The old Wembley closed in October 2000, with demolition originally intended for that December and the new stadium due to open in 2003. After delays to the project, with demolition first started in September 2002, the old Wembley was not completely demolished until February 2003, with the new stadium scheduled to open in time for the 2006 FA Cup Final. After further delays, the stadium was delivered nearly a year late, leading to legal disputes between WNSL and Multiplex, who ultimately made a significant loss on the project. The stadium was handed over on 9 March 2007, in time to host the 2007 FA Cup Final.

In international football, the stadium was a central component of the failed English 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bids. In 2012 it will host the football finals of the London Olympics. In club football, in addition to the FA Cup the stadium also hosts the showpiece season opening game the FA Community Shield match, played in August between the winners of the FA Cup and the top-level Premier League. In mid-season it also hosts the finals of the Football League Cup and Football League Trophy. At the end of the domestic season the stadium also hosts the latter stages of the Football League play-offs. In European football, it hosted the 2011 Champions League Final, and will host the final again in 2013. In friendly tournaments, since 2009 it has been the venue of the summer Wembley Cup. Outside of football, the stadium also hosts major rugby league games, such as the Challenge Cup and International Rugby League. The stadium is also an annual regular season venue for the American National Football League's International Series, the first such venue outside North America. Non-sporting uses include large concerts by artists such as Oasis, Bon Jovi, AC/DC, Green Day, Muse, Foo Fighters, Take That, Metallica, U2 and Madonna as well as hosting in July 2007 the Concert for Diana and Live Earth concert.

Contents

Stadium

Wembley was designed by architects Foster + Partners and Populous (known as HOK Sport at the time of the design phase and construction) and with engineers Mott MacDonald, built by Australian company Brookfield 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 one of the most expensive stadiums ever built at a cost of £798 million (After New Meadowlands Stadium)[6][7] and has the largest roof-covered seating capacity in the world. Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners was appointed to assist Wembley National Stadium Limited in preparing the scheme for a new stadium and to obtain planning and listed building permission for the development.[8]

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.[9] 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 133 m (436 ft). It supports all the weight of the north roof and 60% of the weight of the retractable roof on the southern side.[10] The archway is the world's longest unsupported roof structure.[11] Instead of the 39 steps climbed, in the original stadium, to enter the Royal Box and collect a trophy, there are now 107.[12]

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.[13] No athletics events have taken place at the stadium, and none are scheduled. The conversion for athletics use was a condition of part of the lottery funding the stadium received, but to convert it would take weeks of work and cost millions of pounds.[14]

Construction

The stadium in its very early stages of construction, circa August 2003
New Wembley Stadium looking south, view from the new Wembley Way, January 2007

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. In 2004, the London Mayor and Brent Council also announced wider plans for the regeneration of Wembley, taking in the arena and the surrounding areas as well as the stadium, to be implemented over two or three decades.

Delays to the construction project 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 Multiplex design changes which Multiplex rejected. Cleveland Bridge withdrew from the project and replaced by Dutch firm Hollandia with all the attendant problems of starting over. 2004 also saw errors, most notably a fatal accident involving carpenter Patrick O'Sullivan for which construction firm PC Harrington Contractors were fined £150,000 in relation to breaches of health and safety laws.[15]

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". By November 2005, WNSL were still hopeful of a handover date of 31 March, in time for the cup final on 13 May. However in December 2005, the builders admitted that there was a "material risk" that the stadium might not be ready in time for the final.[16][17] In February 2006 these worries were confirmed, with the FA moving the game to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

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.[18] On 23 March 2006, sewers beneath the stadium buckled due to ground movement.[19] 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. Rumours circulated that the reason for the blockage was due to Multiplex failing to pay the contractors who laid the pipes who then filled in the pipes with concrete. 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.[20] 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 was expected to pay around £36m to Multiplex, on top of the amount of the original fixed-price contract. The total cost of the project (including local transport infrastructure redevelopment and the cost of financing) was estimated to be £1 billion (roughly US$1.97 billion).

Handover and opening

The new stadium was completed and handed over to the FA on 9 March 2007. The official Wembley Stadium website had announced that the stadium would be open for public viewing for local residents of Brent on 3 March 2007, however this was delayed by two weeks and instead happened on 17 March.

While the stadium had hosted football matches since the handover in March, the stadium was officially opened on Saturday 19 May, with the staging of the 2007 FA Cup Final. Eight days before that on Friday 11 May, the Bobby Moore Sculpture had been unveiled by Sir Bobby Charlton outside the stadium entrance, as the "finishing touch" to the completion of the stadium. The twice life-size bronze statue, sculpted by Philip Jackson, depicts England's 1966 World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore, looking down Wembley Way.[21][22][23]

Structure

Pitch

The new pitch is 13 ft (4.0 m) lower than the previous pitch. The pitch size, as lined for association football, is 115 yd (105 m) long by 75 yd (69 m) wide, slightly narrower than the old Wembley, as required by the UEFA stadium categories for a category four stadium, the top category.

Since the completion of the new Wembley, the pitch has come into disrepute since it was described as 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.[30] It was confirmed when the pitch was terribly cut up during the game, which was blamed by some[31] as the reason England did not qualify for UEFA Euro 2008.[32] The Football Association admitted in April 2009 after the FA Cup semi-finals that improvements are needed to the Wembley pitch after criticism of the surface by Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsène Wenger and David Moyes. The grass has been relaid ten times since the stadium re-opened in 2007 and was relaid again in the summer of 2009, ahead of the 2009 Community Shield.[33][34]

In March 2010, the surface was relaid for the 10th time since 2007, when the stadium was built. In April 2010, the pitch was again criticised following the FA Cup semi-finals, during which the players found it difficult to keep their footing and the surface cut up despite the dry conditions. Tottenham Hotspur boss Harry Redknapp labelled it a "disgrace" after his side's semi-final defeat to Portsmouth.[35] After the 2010 FA Cup Final, Chelsea captain John Terry said, "The pitch ruined the final. It’s probably the worst pitch we’ve played on all year. It was not good enough for a Wembley pitch."[36] It was relaid with Desso semi-artificial pitch, ahead of the 2010 community shield game between Chelsea and Manchester United. Michael Owen, who previously criticized the pitch for causing him injury, said that it was much improved.[37]

Covering

The stadium roof has an area of 40,000 m2, of which 13,722 m2 is movable.[26] The primary reason for the sliding roof was to avoid shading the pitch, as grass demands direct sunlight to grow effectively.[38] The sliding roof design minimises the shadow by having the roof pulled back on the east, west and south.[39] Angus Campbell, chief architect, also said that an aim was for the pitch to be in sunlight during the match between the beginning of May and the end of June, between 3pm and 5pm, which is when the FA and World cups would be played. However it was mentioned during live commentary of the FA Cup Final in 2007 that the pitch was in partial shade at the start at 3 pm and also during the match.[40]

The stadium roof rises to 52 metres above the pitch and is supported by an arch rising 133 metres above the level of the external concourse. With a span of 315 metres, the arch is the longest single span roof structure in the world.[25]

Litigation

The Australian firm Multiplex, which was the main contractor on Wembley Stadium, made significant losses on the project.[41][42] In an attempt to recoup some of those losses, the firm has initiated a number of legal cases against its sub-contractors and consultants.[43] The largest of these - the largest legal claim in UK legal history - is a claim for £253 million against the structural engineering consultants Mott Macdonald.[44] In preliminary hearings the two architecture practices which worked for Multiplex on the project have been ordered to allow Multiplex access to their records in order for them to build a case. The practices, Foster + Partners and Populous, estimate the costs of providing access and answering Multiplex's queries at £5 million.[45] The case is not due to be heard until January 2011.[46] Mott Macdonald has issued a counter-claim for unpaid fees of £250,000.[44]

Multiplex has also taken the original steel contractor, Cleveland Bridge, to court in order to claim up to £38 million[47] compensation for costs resulting from Cleveland Bridge walking away from the job. Cleveland Bridge, in turn, claimed up to £15 million from Multiplex. The case was finally resolved in September 2008 with Cleveland Bridge ordered to pay £6.1 million in damages and 20% of Multiplex's costs after the court found Cleveland Bridge was in the wrong to walk off site. The judge criticised both sides for allowing the case to reach court, pointing out that total costs were £22 million, including £1 million for photocopying.[48] Multiplex's ultimate bill is estimated to be over £10 million.

Multiplex is also contesting a claim from its concrete contractor, PC Harrington, that Multiplex owes £13.4 million to PC Harrington.[49]

The dispute between Multiplex (now known as Brookfield) and Mott Macdonald was settled out of court in June 2010, the judge having warned that costs were likely to be more than £74 million.[50]

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.[51] Additionally, Wembley is one of the 12 2015 Rugby World Cup venues, for which pitch changes will have to be made.

The Race of Champions staged their 2007 and 2008 events at the stadium.

Wembley has had a long association with American Football. A USFL game was staged there in 1984, and between 1986 and 1993 the old Wembley stadium hosted eight NFL exhibition games featuring 13 different NFL teams.[52] Since the new Wembley Stadium opened in 2007 Wembley has hosted games during the NFL regular season. As a result of this, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stated in October 2009 that "he expects the NFL will start playing multiple regular-season games in Britain in the next few years, an expansion that could lead to putting a franchise in London."[53]

Music

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 9 June 2007.[54] 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.

Muse became the first band to sell out the new stadium on 16 and 17 June 2007, and released a live DVD of the performance.

Other acts to have performed at the stadium are Metallica, Foo Fighters, Madonna, Coldplay, Oasis, Take That and AC/DC.[55]

Wembley stadium hosted Take That Present: The Circus Live for 4 nights in summer 2009. The tour became the fastest selling tour in UK in history[56] before that record was broken by Take That two years later with their Progress Live tour.

Two large charity concerts have been held at the new Wembley stadium, the Concert for Diana, a memorial concert to commemorate ten years after the Death of Princess Diana, and Live Earth, a concert hosted at Wembley as part of the Live Earth Foundation, committed to combating climate change.

95.8 Capital FM's Summertime Ball, which was previously hosted with 55,000 spectators at the Arsenal Emirates Stadium and slightly less in Hyde Park (as Party in the Park), was hosted at Wembley Stadium on 6 June 2010, and was headlined by Rihanna and Usher. The move to Wembley allowed many more fans to watch the annual music event which has previously lasted over 5 hours with more than 15 performers. It is thought to be the biggest commercial music event held at the stadium. It will return to the Stadium in 2011, with an even larger concert.

American punk rock band Green Day continued their world tour, playing at Wembley on 19 June 2010. The gig was Green Day's biggest audience yet.[57]

Muse returned to Wembley Stadium on 10 and 11 September 2010 as part of their Resistance Tour to a sell-out crowd, having previously played there in June 2007.

Madonna played Wembley in 2008 during her Sticky and Sweet Tour, to a sold-out audience of 74,000. The event has surpassed all gross revenue for a single concert at Wembley, grossing nearly $12 million USD.[58]

Take That played a record breaking 8 nights at Wembley Stadium in summer 2011 on their Progress Live tour, which has become the fastest and biggest selling tour in UK history.[59][60] 623,737 people attended the 8 shows at the stadium.

Past concerts

Year Date Artist/s
2007 9, 10 June George Michael[61]
16, 17 June Muse[62]
1 July Concert for Diana[63]
7 July Live Earth[64]
8 July Metallica[65]
2008 6, 7 June Foo Fighters
11 September Madonna
2009 26 June AC/DC
1, 3, 4, 5 July Take That
9, 11, 12 July Oasis
14, 15 August U2
18, 19 September Coldplay
2010 6 June Capital FM's Summertime Ball
19 June Green Day
10, 11 September Muse
2011 12 June Capital FM's Summertime Ball
30 June,
1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 & 9 July		 Take That

Firsts at the new Wembley Stadium

Football

The first match at the stadium was a game played behind closed doors between Multiplex and Wembley Stadium staff.[67] The first game in front of spectators was between the Geoff Thomas Foundation Charity XI and the Wembley Sponsors Allstars on 17 March 2007. The Geoff Thomas Foundation Charity XI won 2–0 (scorers Mark Bright and Simon Jordan).[68] The first official match involving professional players was England U21s vs Italy U21s on 24 March 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).[69] The first player to score in a FIFA sanctioned match was Italian striker Giampaolo Pazzini after 28 seconds of the same game. 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. The first English player to score in a full-scale match was David Bentley with a free kick in the same game.[69]

The first club game, competitive game, and cup final held at the new Wembley took place on 12 May 2007 when Kidderminster Harriers met Stevenage Borough in the FA Trophy final.[70] Kidderminster striker James Constable was the first player to score a goal in a final at the new Wembley. Kidderminster became the first team to play at both the old and new stadium. 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 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 (with Leicester City, Wycombe Wanderers and Stevenage). Ronnie Henry was the first ever player to lift a competitive club trophy at the new Wembley.[71]

The first penalty save and first red card came in the Conference National 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.[72]

The first Football League teams to play at Wembley in a competitive fixture were Bristol Rovers and Shrewsbury Town in the 2007 Football League Two play-off Final on 26 May 2007. Shrewsbury Town became the first league team to score at Wembley and also the first league team to have a player sent off. Bristol Rovers won the game 3–1 in front of 61,589 which was a stadium record until the Championship play-off final two days later when Derby County beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0 to become the first team at the new stadium to win promotion to the FA Premier League.

The first FA Cup Final at the new Wembley (between Manchester United and Chelsea) was on 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 Čech 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 game involving the full English national team was a friendly played on 1 June 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 a 1–1 draw. The first competitive senior international was played on 8 September 2007 between England and Israel. This game ended 3–0. The first player to score international goals at both the old and new stadia was Michael Owen when he scored for England against Israel. On 22 August Germany beat England 2–1 to become the first team to beat them in the new Wembley Stadium. England's first competitive defeat at the new stadium was on 21 November 2007 when Croatia won 3–2. This match cost England qualification to Euro 2008 and head coach Steve McClaren his job.

Celtic were the first Scottish team to win a trophy at the new Wembley. Competing in the first year of the Wembley Cup in July 2009, against English side Tottenham, Egyptian side Al-Ahly and the 2009 European Champions, Barcelona.

Millwall currently hold the record for the number of fans at Wembley Stadium by one club,[73] a record they also held at the old Wembley when they brought 47,000 fans against Wigan Athletic in the Football League Trophy final in 1999.[74]

Wembley Stadium hosted the UEFA Champions League Final on 28 May 2011 between FC Barcelona and Manchester United.[75] Wembley will also host the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final, making it the second time in 3 years.[76] It will hold the event to mark the 150th anniversary of The Football Association.

A panorama of Wembley during the half time period of an England game

Rugby league

Rugby union

The first top level rugby union match was a non-cap match between the Barbarians and Australia on 3 December 2008. In the 2009–10 Guinness Premiership, Saracens played three home games at Wembley, moving from their normal home ground at Vicarage Road, Watford. Wembley is one of the named stadia for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Date Competition Home team Away team
3 December 2008 Barbarians 11  Australia 18
12 September 2009 2009–10 Guinness Premiership (Round 2) Saracens 19 Northampton Saints 16
13 February 2010 2009–10 Guinness Premiership (Round 14) Saracens 25 Worcester Warriors 20
17 April 2010 2009–10 Guinness Premiership (Round 20) Saracens 37 Harlequins 18

American football

See also: NFL International Series

Transport connections

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.

Service Bus
Stop
Letter		 Station/Stop Lines/Routes served Distance
from Wembley Stadium
London Buses Olympic Way 92, PR2 0.1 mile walk[78]
Stop E
Stop F		 Wembley Arena 92 0.2 mile walk[79]
Stop SD Wembley Stadium Station 83, 92, 182, 224 0.4 mile walk[80]
Stop M Wembley Park Station 83, 182, 223, 297, PR2 0.4 mile walk[81]
London Underground Wembley Park
0.4 mile walk[82]
Wembley Central About 15 mins walk[83]
London Overground Watford DC Line
National Rail Southern
Wembley Stadium Chiltern Railways 0.5 mile walk[84]

In the media

A short documentary of the stadium's redevelopment can be found on the Queen Live at Wembley '86 DVD. Although not completed or opened at the time, EA Sports added Wembley Stadium into the video game FIFA 07.

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External links

Events and tenants
Preceded by
Millennium Stadium
Cardiff		 FA Cup
Final Venue
2007- Present		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
Santiago Bernabéu Stadium
Madrid		 UEFA Champions League
Final Venue
2011		 Succeeded by
Allianz Arena
Munich
Preceded by
Allianz Arena
Munich		 UEFA Champions League
Final Venue
2013		 Succeeded by
TBD