'Wembley Stadium' is a
football stadium in
Wembley, located in the
London Borough of Brent in
London,
England. With 90,000 seats the stadium has the
second largest capacity in Europe (after the
Camp Nou), and the largest in the world with every seat under cover
14. Following its opening, it has often been referred to as the "new Wembley Stadium" to distinguish it from the
original stadium. The stadium is also the most expensive stadium ever built.
[1]
The previous Wembley Stadium (originally known as the 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". 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 came on
9 March 2007, when the keys to the stadium were handed over to
The Football Association.
Construction
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
[1] at a cost of £798 million (roughly US$1.57 Billion)
1 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. 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.
[3] The archway is the world's longest unsupported roof structure.
[4]
A "platform system" has been designed to convert the stadium for athletics use, but its use decreases the stadium's capacity to approximately 60,000. Instead of the 39 steps climbed, in the original stadium, to enter the Royal Box and collect a trophy, there are now 107.
[5]
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.
[6] 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).
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
[7] and in February 2006, these worries were confirmed by the FA moving the game to
Cardiff's
Millennium Stadium.
The stadium in its very early stages of construction, circa August 2003
New Wembley Stadium looking south, down the new
Wembley Way, January 2007
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.
[8] On
23 March 2006,
sewers beneath the stadium buckled due to ground movement.
[9] 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.
[10] 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 1986''
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.
[11]
Structure
Inside the stadium
★ With 90,000 seats, the new Wembley is the largest stadium 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 16,532 and the upper one 39,165
[12]
★ The stadium contains 2,618 toilets, more than any other venue in the world.
[13]
★ The stadium has a circumference of 1 km (0.6 mi).
[14]
★ At its peak, there were more than 3,500 construction workers on site.
[15]
★ 4,000 separate piles form the foundations of the new stadium,
14 the deepest of which is 35 m (115 ft).
14
★ There are 35 miles of heavy-duty power cables in the stadium.
14
★ 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.
14
★ The total length of the escalators is 400 m (¼ mi).
14
★ Each of the two giant screens in the new stadium is the size of 600 domestic television sets.
14
★ The Wembley Arch has a diameter greater than that of a cross-channel train.
[16]Pitch
The new pitch is 13 feet lower than the previous pitch. The pitch size is 105 metres (115 yards) long and 68 metres (75 yards) wide, slightly narrower than the old Wembley
[17]
Roof
Detail of the arch
The new 7,000 ton roof covers an area of over 11 acres, four acres of which are movable and rise to 170 feet above the pitch.
14 With a span of 1040 feet, the arch is the longest single span roof structure in the world and is 440 feet above the level of the external concourse,
[18] which is designed not to cast a shadow on the pitch.
[19]
Seating
There is more leg room in every seat than there was in the Royal Box of the old stadium.
14
New Wembley Opening Game England U21 v Italy U21
Tenants
The
English national football team will be a major tenant of Wembley Stadium. Given the ownership by
The Football Association as of
March 10 2007, the
League Cup final will move back to Wembley from Cardiff as the
FA Cup final has. 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
Nationwide Conference play-off final. Additionally, the
Rugby League Challenge Cup final will return to Wembley Stadium beginning in 2007.
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.
A
Guinness Premiership doubler-header, usually held at
Twickenham, could be played at Wembley during the
2007-08 season.
[20] The double header involves four clubs,
London Irish,
Wasps,
Saracens and
Harlequins.
On
October 28 2007 at 6:00pm GMT, Wembley will be the venue for the first competitive
NFL regular season game ever to be played outside
North America. This event will be played between the
New York Giants and
Miami Dolphins. The first 40,000 tickets sold out in 90 minutes.
[21]
The
Race of Champions will also visit the stadium in December 2007.
[22]
Music
Besides football, Wembley can be configured to hold many other events, particularly major concerts.
Muse performed two concerts on
16 June and
17 June, completely selling out the new venue. The
Concert for Diana, a memorial concert ten years after the
death of the
Princess of Wales, took place on
July 1 2007.
Metallica performed at the stadium on
July 8 as part of their
Sick of the Studio '07 tour as well as at live earth at Wembley.
[23] The London leg of the global movement concert
Live Earth, modelled after the 1985
Live Aid concerts (one of which took place at the original Wembley Stadium), was also held at Wembley on
7 July 2007.
★
HIMESH RESHAMMIYA -
OCTOBER,
2006
★
George Michael -
June 9,
2007 (The first concert performance at the New Wembley Stadium)
★ George Michael -
June 10,
2007
★
Muse -
June 16,
2007 (Originally the first scheduled performance at the New Wembley Stadium)
★ Muse -
June 17,
2007
★
Concert for Diana -
July 1,
2007
★
Live Earth -
July 7,
2007
★
Metallica -
July 8,
2007
Firsts at the new Wembley Stadium
Football
★ The first 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.
[24]
★ 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.
[24]
★ 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.
[26]
★ 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 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 ever to score in the FA Cup final at the new 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 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 international player for a visiting team when he scored in stoppage time, with the fulltime result being
England 1-1
Brazil
★ The first defeat of the
English national team occurred on
August 22 2007, in a friendly match against
German national team. This 2nd game in new Wembley ended 1-2.
★ The first competitive senior international will be played on
September 8,
2007 between
England and
Israel.
★ The first goal in every
English national team at Wembley has been scored by a Chelsea player
★ 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.
★ Championship Playoff (between
Derby County F.C. and
West Bromwich Albion F.C.) took place at Wembley on
May 28 2007. Derby won the game 1-0 with a goal in the 61st minute by
Stephen Pearson. This secured Derby a place in the Premiership as well as an expected £60million windfall, consisting of payments from TV rights, and increased gate receipts and sponsorship.
[27]
★ 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
Rugby League
★ 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
Castleford High School. The
West Yorkshire secondary school beat
Normanton in a
friendly match played immediately prior to the 2007 Challenge Cup Final. The two
West Yorkshire sides played in front of a crowd largely made up of people from their own county as thousands of
Leeds Rhinos,
Bradford Bulls,
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats and
Huddersfield Giants fans turned up despite their teams failing to qualifying for the final.
★ 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.
Music
★
George Michael became the first artist to perform at the new Wembley Stadium when he played two shows at the venue on
June 9,
2007 and
June 10,
2007.
[28]
★
Muse became the first band to perform at Wembley when they played two shows on
June 16,
2007 and
June 17,
2007. They were also the first artists to sell out Wembley Stadium, for the first of their two performances.
Statistics
Main articles: Wembley Stadium matches
References
1. Wembley kick-off: Stadium is ready and England play first game in fortnight
2. Wembley kick-off: Stadium is ready and England play first game in fortnight
3. [1]
4. Guinness World Records 2006
5. "A beautiful new home for the beautiful game"
6. Wembley chief's Cup final doubts (BBC)
7. FA plays down doubts over Wembley (BBC)
8. Wembley cleared after beam slips (BBC)
9. Wembley dismisses 'sewer problem' (BBC)
10. Stadium delay hits Wembley gigs (BBC)
11. Wembley's Moore statue unveiled - BBC News, May 11 2007
12. Wembley truly special - architect
13. Doors finally open at new Wembley
14. Wembley Stadium - Presspack - Facts and Figures
15. 'Steel the key' to extra time
16. "The New Wembley", BBC Documentary with Lord Foster and Adrian Chiles
17. Wembley Stadium, London
18. Wembley Stadium Arch Facts and Figures
19. Wembley arch due for completion
20. Premiership clubs eye transfer to Wembley
21. NFL regular-season game in London a hot ticket
22. "Race of Champions"
23. W is for London
24. England U21s draw Wembley cracker
25. England U21s draw Wembley cracker
26. Exeter 1-2 Morecambe
27. Can Derby stay in the Premiership?
28. Michael makes history at Wembley BBC News
External links
★
Official site
★
Wembley Stadium Forum for all Past, Present and Future events
★
Description at sportsvenue-technology.com
★
Wembley trivia
★
Virtual tour
★
Wembley Stadium Pictures on Flickr
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
