30 most famous football stadiums

14) St. James’ Park (Newcastle, England)

Capacity: 52,405

Opened: 1892

Tennant(s): Newcastle United

Locked in the heart of a football-mad city, St James’ Park, England’s tenth largest stadium overall, has an asymmetrical structure and is slightly lop-slided, not dissimilar to the shape of the aforementioned Parkhead. Although it didn’t open its doors to Newcastle United until 1892, the stadium’s construction was actually completed twelve years prior to the club’s formation and originally hosted other footballing events.

Most recently used in the 2015 Rugby World Cup as well as having made a few cameo appearances in the 2012 Olympics, the iconic venue’s cantilever roof is the continent’s largest cantilever structure at 64.5 metres. A fortress during Newcastle’s time at the pinnacle of the Premier League, the stadium’s south stand did enough to evoke fear in itself; the ‘Gallowgate End’ earns its name from the fact public executions were carried out close to where the stadium was built.

13) Emirates Stadium (London, England)

Capacity: 60,432

Opened: 2006

Tennant(s): Arsenal

It was once theorised that the implementation of a modern, 60,000 seater football stadium with one of the finest cut pitches worldwide would propel Arsenal into the realms of footballing utopia; that juicy increase of 111% in match-day revenue could be splashed year-on-year on the very best players, right? As a Gooner myself, I hate to say this isn’t the case.

That said, the nation’s third largest football stadium still caters for Arsenal’s fluid style of play and is one of the most gorgeous looking venues on offer in the English capital. The three-tiered bowl structure may be a modern one but through the 2009 ‘Arsenalisation’ project, the club still showcases a great deal of history and tradition, not least through the construction of ‘The Spirit of Highbury’ monument portraying every individual to have played for the club at their former home.