Wembley Stadium
Wembley's famous arch stands on the spot where Victorian London tried to build a tower taller than the Eiffel Tower, and failed.
Published
Quick Facts
- Location
- Wembley Park, north-west London
- Opened
- 2007 (the original Empire Stadium opened in 1923)
- Capacity
- 90,000, the largest stadium in the UK
- Arch height
- 133 metres
- Designed by
- Foster + Partners and HOK Sport (now Populous)
- Built by
- Multiplex
- Cost
- Around £800 million
- Old stadium
- Twin Towers, demolished 2002–03
The tower that never got finished
Long before any football was played here, Wembley Park was the site of a grand Victorian folly. In the 1890s the railway magnate Sir Edward Watkin planned a tower to beat the Eiffel Tower and draw crowds to his suburban pleasure grounds. Watkin's Tower never got beyond its first stage. It opened to visitors in 1896 but was dogged by problems, was left stunted, and was demolished in 1907. The stadium stands on that spot, and the 133-metre arch has finally given Wembley the skyline landmark Watkin wanted.
Built in 300 days for an empire
The first Wembley was put up for the British Empire Exhibition. Designed by John Simpson and Maxwell Ayrton, with engineer Owen Williams, the Empire Stadium went up in about 300 days and opened in 1923. It was only meant to be temporary, but it survived and became the home of English football. Its twin white towers became one of the most recognisable sights in sport.
The day a police horse saved the Cup final
The first FA Cup final at Wembley, on 28 April 1923, was chaos. Far more people turned up than the ground was meant to hold, and the pitch filled with spectators. PC George Scorey and his white horse, Billie, slowly eased the crowd back to the touchlines, and Bolton Wanderers beat West Ham United 2-0. The match is still known as the White Horse Final.
Moments that made the name
Wembley's old ground hosted the 1948 Olympics and the 1966 World Cup final, when England beat West Germany 4-2 after extra time on 30 July. Geoff Hurst scored a hat-trick, and no one else did the same in a men's World Cup final until Kylian Mbappé in 2022. Live Aid came here on 13 July 1985, and Queen's set is still talked about. The old stadium's last match was England against Germany on 7 October 2000, which Germany won 1-0 through Dietmar Hamann. Demolition began in 2002 and the Twin Towers were gone by 2003.
The arch that holds it all up
The new stadium was designed by Foster + Partners and HOK Sport, with Multiplex as contractor. It was delayed and cost around £800 million, but when it opened in 2007 it had a retractable roof section and a huge arch, visible from across London, that carries much of the weight of the roof. The first FA Cup final here was in May 2007, when Chelsea beat Manchester United 1-0. Its later highlights include the Champions League finals of 2011, 2013 and 2024, and the Euro 2020 final on 11 July 2021, when Italy beat England on penalties. A year later, on 31 July 2022, Chloe Kelly scored the winner as England's Lionesses beat Germany 2-1 after extra time in the Women's Euro final, in front of 87,192 people, a record for a European Championship match.
What to look out for
Walk up Wembley Way and look back at the arch, which dominates the view. Outside the stadium, Philip Jackson's statue of Bobby Moore, captain of the 1966 side, is a popular meeting point. Inside, trophy winners climb 107 steps to the Royal Box, a ritual that began at the old stadium. The 107 steps are a reminder of how far the ground has come from a temporary exhibition venue in 1923.
Notable people
- Sir Edward Watkin
- Owen Williams
- John Simpson
- Maxwell Ayrton
- Norman Foster
- Bobby Moore
- Geoff Hurst
- Alf Ramsey
- George Scorey
- Chloe Kelly
- Freddie Mercury
Test yourself
Play the UK quizMore to see nearby
The Royal Observatory, Greenwich
Published
You can stand with one foot in the east and one in the west, but the real story of Greenwich is how a king's astronomer helped sailors find their way home.
Hampton Court Palace
Published
Henry VIII's kitchens at Hampton Court once fed around 600 people twice a day, and the palace's famous maze was planted for a Dutch king to get lost in.
Kew Gardens
Published
Kew's pagoda once wore 80 gilded dragons, and its seedlings helped reshape the economies of three continents. Here's the botanical powerhouse hiding beside the Thames.