Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium

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Location : London, England
Coordinates : 51° 33′ 21.07″ N, 0° 16′ 46.54″ W
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 Borough of Brent in
North West 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 do-
mestic football finals. It is also used for pop concerts and other sporting events
It will host the 2011 UEFA Champions League Final.

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. 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.

The previous Wembley Stadium (originally known as the British Empire Ex-
hibition Stadium or Empire Stadium) was one of the world’s most famous foot
ball 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 Foot-
ball”. 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 del-
ayed 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.

Stadio delle Alpi

Stadio delle Alpi

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Location : Turin, Italy
Coordinates : 45° 6′ 34.42″ N, 7° 38′ 28.54″ E
Broke ground: 1988
Opened : 1990
Closed : 2006
Demolished : 2008/09
Owner : Juventus F.C.
Surface : Grass
Architect : Studio Hutter
Capacity : 69,000
Field dimensions : 105 m × 68 m
Tenants : Torino F.C. (Serie A) (1990-2006)
Juventus F.C. (Serie A) (1990-2006)

The Stadio delle Alpi was a football and athletics stadium in Turin, Italy, and
was the home of both Juventus and Torino between 1990 and 2006. In English
the   name means   “Stadium of the Alps”,   a reference to the  nearby   mountain
range.  Currently,  the stadium is   being  demolished,  with both football clubs
playing their home fixtures at the rebuilt Stadio Olimpico. It is in the process
of being demolished to make way for a new stadium due to be opened in 2011.

Designed by architect Studio Hutter, the delle Alpi was originally built in 1990
to host matches for the 1990 World Cup, as a replacement for the ageing Stadio
Comunale, the   then name of today’s   Stadio  Olimpico. The stadium’s original
capacity was 69,041 fans, however due to FIFA rules regarding the segregation
of  home and away supporters, the actual capacity is reduced to 67,229.

Stade Félix-Bollaert

Stade Félix-Bollaert

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Inauguration : 1932
Coordinates : 50° 25′ 58.26″ N, 2° 48′ 53.47″ E
Capacity : 41,233 seats
Seat Colour : Red and Yellow
Platforms
Official : Max Lepagnot (8 018 places)
Side : Tony Marek – Xercès Louis (8 454 places)
West : Henri Trannin (12 183 places)
Popular : Élie Delacourt (12 578 places)
Multitude record : 48,912 spectators (February 15, 1992, Lens-Marseilles)
Address : Avenue Alfred Maës 62 300 Lens
Club resident : RC Lens

Stade Félix Bollaert is a football stadium in Lens, France, that was built in 1932. It is the
home of RC Lens. The stadium’s capacity is 41,233 (larger than Lens’ current population
of roughly  37,000).  It takes its name from a   commercial  director  of a  local  mining
company who died shortly before the  inauguration of the stadium.  The   stadium   also
hosted matches during the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

Stamford Bridge

Stamford Bridge

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Full name : Stamford Bridge
Location : Fulham Broadway, London, England
Coordinates : 51° 28′ 54.17″ N, 0° 11′ 27.5″ W
Built : 1876
Opened : 1877
Renovated : 1904-5, 1990s
Owner : Chelsea Pitch Owners plc
Operator : Chelsea
Surface : Grass
Architect : Archibald Leitch (1887)
Capacity : 42,055
Field dimensions : 110 x 75 yards (100 x 69 metres)
Tenants : Chelsea (1905-present)

Stamford Bridge is a football stadium on the border of Fulham and Chelsea, in
the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham that is home to Chelsea
Football Club. The stadium is located within the Moore Park Estate also known
as Walham Green. It is nicknamed “The Bridge” by the club’s supporters. The
capacity is 42,055, making it the eighth largest ground in the Premier League
(see List of Premier League stadiums).

White Hart Lane

White Hart Lane

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Full name : White Hart Lane
Location : Bill Nicholson Way, 748 High Road, Tottenham London N17 OAP
England
Coordinates : 51°36′11.77″N 0°03′56.74″W / 51.6032694, -0.0657611
Built : 1899
Opened : 4 September 1899
Owner : Tottenham Hotspur
Operator : Tottenham Hotspur
Surface : Grass
Construction cost : £100,500 (1934)
Architect : Archibald Leitch (1909)
Capacity : 36,310 seated
Field dimensions : 100 x 67  m (110 x 73 yd)
Tenants : Tottenham Hotspur (1899–present)

White Hart Lane is an all-seater football stadium in Tottenham, England. Built in
1899, It is the home  of  Tottenham Hotspur and, after  numerous   renovations,
the stadium has a capacity of 36,310.

Along with housing Tottenham, the stadium has also been selected for England
national  football matches  and also  England under-21 football matches,  White
Hart Lane held capacity  records in the early  1960’s with numbers entering the
70,000s but as seating increased in popularity, the stadium has leveled out to
a modest number in  relation to other premier league clubs,  The record atten-
dance remains  an  FA Cup tie on the 5th March  1938 against Sunderland with
the attendance being recorded at 75,038.

Plans are afoot for Tottenham Hotspur to move to a new stadium with an esti-
mated capacity of 60,000, with the new stadium being built on the current site
instead of relocating from the borough of Haringey.

HSH Nordbank Arena

HSH Nordbank Arena

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Full name : HSH Nordbank Arena
Former names : Volksparkstadion (1953-2001), AOL Arena (2001-2007)
FIFA World Cup Stadium, Hamburg (2006 FIFA World Cup)
Location : Hamburg, Germany
Coordinates : 53° 35′ 13.77″ N, 9° 53′ 55.02″
Built : 1951-1953 As Volksparkstadion
Opened : 12 July 1953; 1998 (new stadium)
Surface : grass
Capacity : 57,274
Field dimensions : 105 m x 68 m
Tenants : Hamburger SV(Bundesliga) (2000-present)
Hamburg Sea Devils (NFL Europa) (2005-2007)

HSH Nordbank Arena is the municipal stadium of Hamburg, Germany. It is the
home  ground  of  the  Hamburger   SV  football  team  and  was one of the  12
stadiums used in the 2006 Football World Cup, which hosted four group games
and a quarter final. The arena was known as the Volksparkstadion until 2001
when AOL Time Warner bought the naming rights until July 2007.

Estádio da Luz

Estádio da Luz

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Full name : Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica
Location : Lisbon, Portugal
Coordinates : 38° 45′ 9.64″ N, 9° 11′ 4.85″ W
Built : 2003
Opened : 25 October 2003
Owner : Sport Lisboa e Benfica
Surface : Grass
Construction cost : $133 million
Architect : Damon Lavelle, HOK Sport + Venue + Event
Capacity : 65,647
Field dimensions : 105 x 68 m
Tenants : S.L. Benfica

The Estádio da Luz officially named the Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica and
commonly mistranslated as Stadium of Light, is a football stadium in Lisbon,
Portugal, the home of S.L. Benfica. It is also called A Catedral (“The Cathedral”)
by Benfica’s supporters.

Luz is actually the area of Lisbon in which the Estádio da Luz stands. The area is
named  after Our  Lady of the Light  (Nossa  Senhora  da Luz). As  the  people of
Lisbon often referred to the original stadium, demolished beginning in 2002, as
simply the light, the common English name for the stadium became the stadium
of light.  The  Stadium of  Light in  Sunderland,  England  may  well have  been
inspired by this  Lisbon  example,  though it has other well  established  reasons
for bearing the name.

It hosted several matches in the UEFA Euro 2004, including the final. The pre-
vious Benfica stadium  (also called “Estádio da  Luz” and one of the largest  sta-
diums in the world with 120,000 seats) was demolished and the new one was
built for the tournament  with an official  capacity of 65,647.  The  architect,
Damon Lavelle, designed the stadium to use as much natural light as possible.
It is classified by UEFA as a five star stadium, allowing it to host major Euro-
pean cup finals. The original Estádio da Luz, opened in 1954, hosted the 1992
European  Cup  Winners’ Cup final before  a crowd of well under 120,000,  its
absolute capacity in those years. Before that final it also hosted the 1991 FIFA
World Youth Championship final held in Portugal with an impressive atten-
dance of 130,000. The original stadium replaced Estadio do Campo Grande.
Estádio da Luz (2005)

Old Estádio da Luz The old Estadio Da Luz saw performances from the likes of
Eusébio and Rui Costa. It hosted championship after championship during the
glory days of the ’50s and ’60s.

In the year 1999 Portugal was selected as the host of the 2004 European Cham
pionships. After many false starts Benfica presented a proposal for re-building
their  stadium  in order to  enable it to become the main  venue for that cham-
pionship.

In  October  2003,  the stadium  opened to a sell out crowd as  Benfica took on
Nacional Montevideo of Uruguay in an exhibition match.

Estadio Mestalla

Estadio Mestalla

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Full name : Estadio de Mestalla
Former names : Estadio Luís Casanova (1969-1994)
Location : Valencia, Spain
Coordinates : 39° 28′ 28.76″ N, 0° 21′ 30.1″
Built : 1923
Opened : 20 May 1923
Owner : Valencia C.F.
Operator : Valencia C.F.
Surface : Grass
Construction cost : 316,439.20 pts (Purchase of Land)
Architect : Francisco Almenar Quinzá
Capacity : 55,000
Field dimensions : 105 x 70 m
Tenants : Valencia C.F.

Estadio Mestalla is a football stadium in Valencia, Spain. The stadium is the
home ground of Valencia C.F. With a capacity of 55,000 seats, it ranks as the
fifth largest stadium in Spain. It is also renowned for its steep terracing and
being o ne  of the  most   intimidating   atmospheres in all  of Europe in
which to play.

In 2009, the team is expected to move into the Nou Mestalla, a state of the
art stadium with a seat capacity of 75,000, located in Valencia.

History

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On 20 May 1923, the Mestalla pitch was inaugurated with a friendly match that
brought Valencia CF and Levante UD face to face. It was the beginning of a new
era that meant farewell to the old place, Algirós, which will always remain in
the memories of the Valencians as first home of the club. A long history has
treaded on the Mestalla field since its very beginning, when the Valencia team
was not yet in the Primera División. Back then, this stadium could hold 17,000
spectators, and in that time the club started to show its potential in regional
championships, which led the managers of that time to carry out the first
alterations of Mestalla in 1927. The stadium’s total capacity increased to
25,000 before it became severely damaged during the Civil War.

Westfalenstadion

Westfalenstadion
“The Temple of the Yellow Wal”

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Full name : Signal Iduna Park
Former names : Westfalenstadion, FIFA World Cup Stadium,
Dortmund (2006 FIFA World Cup)
Location : Dortmund, Germany
Coordinates : 51° 29′ 33.25″ N, 7° 27′ 6.63″
Built : 1971–1974
Opened : April 2, 1974
Renovated : 1992, 1995–99, 2002–03, 2006
Construction cost : 32.7 million in 1974 / estimated 200 million in 2006 DM
Architect : Planungsgruppe Drahtler
Capacity : 80,552 (seating and terracing)
65,718 (seating only)
24,454 (terracing Südtribüne)
Field dimensions : 105m x 68m
Tenants : Borussia Dortmund

Westfalenstadion is a football stadium in the German city of Dortmund in the
industrial metropolitan area of the Ruhrgebiet (“Ruhrpott”).

The stadium is officially named Signal Iduna Park under a sponsorship
arrangement lasting from December 2005 until June 2011, giving naming rights
to the Signal Iduna Group, an insurance company. The older name
Westfalenstadion derives from the former Prussian province of Westphalia,
which is part of the German Federal Republic North Rhine-Westphalia.

It is the home stadium of the BV Borussia Dortmund football team playing in the
German Bundesliga. It has a league capacity of 80,552 (standing and seated),
and an international capacity of 65,718 (officially seats only). It is Germany’s
biggest stadium and established the European record in fan attendance in 2004
/2005 with a total of almost 1.4 million fans. The supporters’ enthusiasm
increasingly produces over 50,000 sold season tickets. Regularly 24,454 fans
on the famous terrace called Südtribüne fill the largest still existing standing
area in European football. Famous for the intense atmosphere it breeds, the
stadium has been nicknamed “The Opera House of German Football”, “The
Temple” or referring to the faithful Südtribüne “Yellow Wall”. The
Westfalenstadion hosted matches of the 1974 World Cup with Zaire, Scotland,
Sweden, Brazil and later finalists Netherlands. It hosted several matches of the
2006 FIFA World Cup national teams of Trinidad & Tobago, Sweden, Germany,
Poland, Togo, Switzerland, Japan, Brazil, Ghana and World Cup holders Italy. In
the semi-final they were the first to beat Germany in an international match
played at Dortmund.

Various national friendlies and qualification matches for World and European
tournaments have been played here as well as matches in European club
competititons. Borussia Dortmund played legendary UEFA Cup matches with
Glasgow Celtic in 1987 and 1992 in front of sympathizing sets of supporters. BVB
lost to Juventus Turin in the UEFA Cup finals of 1993, only to win the UEFA
Champions League final against them in Munich in 1997. Dortmund hosted the
2001 UEFA Cup Final between Liverpool F.C. and Deportivo Alavés (5:4 after
golden goal).

Stade de Gerland

Stade de Gerland

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Full name : Stade de Gerland
Location : 353, Avenue Jean-Jaurès, 69007 VIIè Arrondissement, Lyon,
France
Coordinates : 45°43′25.6″N 4°49′56.1″E / 45.723778, 4.83225
Built : 1914
Opened : 1926
Expanded : 1960, 1980, 1998
Owner : Lyon (Mairie)
Operator : Olympique Lyonnais
Surface : Grass
Construction cost : 32.7m € (including renovations)
Architect : Tony Garnier, René Gagis (renovation)
Capacity : 41,044
Field dimensions : 112 x 65m
Tenants : Olympique Lyonnais (Ligue 1 de Orange) 1950-present

The Stade de Gerland (or Stade Gerland) is the principal sporting hub of the city
of Lyon. Situated in the Gerland quarter, it is presently used by Olympique
Lyonnais. It hosted numerous 2007 Rugby World Cup matches.

Work began on the stadium, designed by Lyon resident Tony Garnier, in 1913.
The construction soon halted because of World War I. After the war ended,
construction restarted in 1919, with the assistance of a large number of German
POWs. The stadium was fully functional by 1920.

Originally, the stadium had no sheltered seating areas, and hence needed to
undergo vast amounts of rebuilding through its history. The cycling track that
ran around the football pitch had to be sacrificed in 1960 in order to increase
the seating capacity to over 50,000. In 1984, attendances reached 51,680 for
certain European Football Championship matches.