Wembley Stadium is a renowned football stadium located in Wembley, London, England. The original Wembley stadium was demolished in 2002-03 and the new stadium has been built on the same site.
This grand stadium is owned by Football Association, which is the governing body of football in England and it is the temporary home stadium of Tottenham Hotspur, a Premier League Football club and also the English national football team.
The stadium has a seating capacity of a staggering 90,000 with this capacity, it is the largest football stadium in entire England and the second-largest stadium in Europe.
History
Initially, the demolition of the original stadium was scheduled to begin in 2000 and the new stadium was to be completed in 2003. However, owing to legal and financial difficulties, the demolition started in December 2002.
Even after this, there were problems every now and then. Matches were scheduled and then cancelled. Opening dates for the public were set and then changed. Finally, after a lot of troubles, the stadium was completed on 9 March 2007 and was opened for public on the 17th.
The stadium began hosting football matches in March itself, but it was officially opened on May 19th and the opening match was 2007 FA Cup Final.
Major matches
The Wembley stadium is a really coveted one and thus, hosts a huge number of major football matches.
The stadium hosts matches of the national football team of England, FA Cup Final, the League Cup Final, Football League playoffs, the FA Trophy and the FA Vase. It also hosts the National league playoffs.
The stadium was even the host of the Gold medal football matches at the 2012 London Olympics football event.
Controversies
In September 2017, during a match between Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars, many of the players took a knee during the American national anthem to protest against the U.S. President Donald Trump. Many other players locked arms with coaches. This was not a sight to be usually seen on a football ground and grabbed the attention of a lot of people.
