The History of Wembley Stadium

Wembley is the most famous football ground in the world — home to the FA Cup Final, England internationals, and some of the most iconic sporting and cultural moments of the last century. But "Wembley" is really two stadiums: the original Empire Stadium of 1923, and the rebuilt arena that replaced it in 2007. This page traces both.

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Origins: Empire Stadium (1923)

The original Wembley Stadium was built in under a year at a cost of £750,000 as the centrepiece of the British Empire Exhibition, on a site previously occupied by the abandoned base of Watkins Tower, a failed rival to the Eiffel Tower. Designed by Sir John Simpson and Maxwell Ayrton and engineered by Owen Williams, it opened in April 1923.

Its opening event, four days after completion, was the 1923 FA Cup Final between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United on 28 April — officially attended by 126,047 people, though police estimates on the day put the real crowd as high as 300,000. The overspill famously had to be cleared from the pitch by a mounted policeman on a white horse named Billie, giving the match its enduring nickname, the "White Horse Final." Bolton won 2–0.

The Twin Towers Era

Wembley's twin towers, flanking the main entrance, quickly became one of the most recognisable landmarks in world sport. Over the following decades the stadium hosted the FA Cup Final every year bar the Second World War, and became home to England internationals from the 1920s onward.

Its two most famous moments came in successive decades:

● 1948 – Wembley served as the main athletics venue for the London Olympics, the first Games held after a 12-year wartime hiatus, with Dutch sprinter Fanny Blankers-Koen winning four gold medals.
● 1966 – England beat West Germany 4–2 after extra time in the World Cup Final on 30 July, sealed by Geoff Hurst's hat-trick, including the contested "crossbar goal." It remains England's only major men's tournament win.

Wembley also hosted five European Cup finals, rugby league's Challenge Cup Final, and — in one of its most-watched non-sporting events — the Live Aid concert on 13 July 1985, drawing more than 72,000 fans and a television audience estimated at 1.9 billion people. Euro 96 brought the stadium's last great football moment before its decline, hosting every England match and the tournament final.

Decline and Closure

By the 1990s Wembley's infrastructure was ageing: sightlines were poor, facilities inadequate, and safety concerns were mounting. After years of debate over refurbishment versus a full rebuild, the stadium closed on 7 October 2000. Its final match was a World Cup qualifier between England and Germany, which Germany won 1–0 — a suitably bittersweet farewell. Demolition began in September 2002 and the old stadium, twin towers included, was gone by early 2003.

Rebuilding Wembley (2003–2007)

The new stadium was built between 2003 and 2007, designed by Foster and Partners with HOK Sport (now Populous), and constructed by the Australian firm Multiplex. It was originally intended to reopen in 2006, but delays pushed completion back a year, and the stadium was formally handed over on 9 March 2007.

Its defining feature is Norman Foster's 133-metre steel arch, which replaced the twin towers as the stadium's landmark and supports the north roof plus 60% of the weight of the south roof — the longest single-span roof structure in the world. The build cost is reported variously as £750–798 million across different sources; the most commonly cited figure is £798 million.

The first competitive match at the new Wembley was the 2007 FA Trophy Final between Kidderminster Harriers and Stevenage Borough on 12 May 2007, which Stevenage won 3–2. A week later, Chelsea beat Manchester United 1–0 in the first FA Cup Final held at the new stadium, in front of 89,826 fans.

Wembley Today

The rebuilt Wembley has an all-covered capacity of 90,000, making it the largest stadium in the UK and the second-largest in Europe. It remains the home of the England national football team and hosts the FA Cup Final, League Cup Final, Community Shield, NFL London Series games, Champions League and Euro finals, and some of the biggest concerts in the world — Adele's 2017 show there drew a stadium-record 98,000 fans for a UK music event.

Legacy

Wembley — old and new — has hosted more history than almost any other sporting venue on earth: World Cup glory, Olympic Games, the birth of English football's biggest occasions, and the world's biggest charity concert. As Pelé once put it, Wembley is "the cathedral of football."

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