Wembley is finally ready-ish!
Yes, that’s right the wait for the completion of England’s national football stadium is nearly over. Thw keys have been handed over from the builder’s to the FA and it is now up to the authorities to host two ‘ramp up’ events to prove the stadium is worthy of its security certificate. The first of these two events will be an England U21’s match against Italy U21’s. The tickets went on sale and all 60,000 were sold within hours, causing the official FA website to reportedly crash. If the events are a success the FA will be allowed to open the staidum to it’s full capacity of 90,000.
Below is a timeline of the Wembley saga.
The last ever football game to be played at the old Wembley Stadium ends England 0-1 Germany on 7 October 2000
Not until 30 September 2002 does the long-awaited demolition work begin as bulldozers move in on the twin towers
The arch stands serenely above the chaos of ongoing construction work, a full 133m above where the pitch will be.
On 12 June 2006 the first strip of turf is laid, exactly one month after Wembley was meant to host the FA Cup Final.
The new stadium must now host test events on 17 and 24 March to gain necessary licences before it can be used.
But the FA is confident that a new dawn at Wembley will be brought in by the return of the FA Cup final on 19 May, 2007!
Wembley Stadium The FA, Wembley, Construction, Wembley Pictures, England, England U21, Italy, Italy U21
March 14th, 2007 at 5:40 am
Excellent post with a great timeline of the building process.
The old Wembley had a really poor atmosphere, much worse than the Millenium stadium for instance. I can’t wait to go and see if the new one is better.